Marc and Jenn's Sand Rail buildup

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When we first got the rail home and I took a good look at everything, one of the first things that I noticed was that 3 of 4 tie rod ends were loose. I thought that they had just been slapped back together, but after trying to tighten them, I realized that they were completely worn out since the taper was fully seated, but the rod end still had up-and-down movement. I removed them, both of the ends at the Pitman arm were stubborn. I ended up having to cut one off since I couldn't get the nut off, and had to cut the other stud off and drill out the hole. That's OK, though, since I won't need the taper when they're replaced with rod ends (Heim Joints). I'm actually going to have to drill out the rest of the holes to 1/2 inch as well.

I ordered the replacement parts from Rod End Supply since they seemed to have a very good product and knowledgable staff. I ordered the parts on Tuesday, 10/10/2000, and I am supposed to get them by the end of this week (by 10/20/2000). We'll see how that works out. Here's what I ordered:

Passenger side tie rod - swaged 6160 aluminum, .125 wall	$19.20
Driver side tie rod - swaged 6160 aluminum, .125 wall	13.40
Rod ends - 1/2" bore x 5/8-18 thread, mild steel construction w/ Kevlar/Teflon composite race. Price each is 11.40, I need four.	45.60
Jam nuts - need four @ $0.79 each	3.16
Studs - this allows greater misalignment on the rod ends - about 40 to 45 degrees total. That's way more than a ball joint type end. Need four @ $1.06 each.	4.24
TOTAL	$85.60

I went with the lengths that the guy at RES recommended for the tie rods - I just had to tell him the original length of the tie rods, from the stud on one end to the stud on the other. Going this route was a little more expensive than going with the factory stuff, but I should never have to replace the rod ends since they have the Kevlar/Teflon race - I was told that they are very difficult to contaminate, and even if they do get contaminated, they stand up to it very well. I think that the tie rods should be very durable as well - they are 6160 aluminum, with an OD of 1.25 inches and a .125 (1/8") wall thickness. I'm hoping that this setup helps to make the steering tighter as well.

The parts started trickling in last week - they took a little longer than I had hoped, but we finally received the tie rod ends on Friday, 11/03. Everything turned out to be very high quality, and they look great. The studs were even pressed into the ends already. All in all, I'd say that this was money well spent, but we'll wait and see how it actually works.

I started drilling out the tapers in the pitman arm and steering arms with a 1/2 inch conventional drill bit, but that was excruciatingly slow going, so I ended up trying a UniBit, which was vastly superior.

It took about 15 minutes to get all of the holes reamed out and the tie rods test fitted. They still look great, and the steering felt much tighter, although the old ends were very worn out!

Keep an eye on the main page - after the first run (sometime next spring, hopefully), I'll be posting a full writeup with notes on how all of the modifications work.