Thread: Tie rods

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So, how the heck do you tighten jam nuts on a chrome tie rod that is threaded LH/RH without totalling the chrome finish? I used two channel locks cushioned by pieces of a rough leather belt, and it still slipped.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

So, how the heck do you tighten jam nuts on a chrome tie rod that is threaded LH/RH without totalling the chrome finish? I used two channel locks cushioned by pieces of a rough leather belt, and it still slipped.

Jack,
What would it do if you put a wrench on each jam nut, up from the bottom, and pulled on both? That would be tightening both?

A couple of ideas:

Craftsman Plier Covers, 5 pc. Set - Tool Catalog - General Purpose Hand Tools - Pliers

Professional Soft Jaw Pliers - Slip Joint Soft Jaw Pliers - Amazon.com

I believe I'd try line wrenches if possible

The issue here is trying to hold a smooth, chrome plated tie rod shaft that has no wrench flats stationary while tightening the jam nuts on either end, one right and one left hand thread. I'm still struggling with the force/motion that will result, but it seems that opposing wrenches on the jam nuts will tend to "pinch" the rod since both tie rod ends are held fixed by the bolts through the heim joints. I could also be all wet....

Roger, here's what seems to work.
- With the tie rod loosely installed, push both balljoint studs fully to the rear. This makes sure that nothing moves, and that the balljoint studs are aligned with each other.
- Adjust the tie rod length by turning it in the appropriate direction
- Bring both jam nuts to finger tight
- Tighten both jam nuts very slightly with a wrench, making sure that the tie rod itself doesn't turn
- Tighten both jam nuts with wrenches on both ends as you suggested.

After tightening them, I used the opposing wrenches to loosen the jam nuts and then re-tightened them. No problems.

I think the main thing throwing me off was not having the ball joint studs pushed all the way back. I think it is important to have the ball joint studs parallel to each other on a tube axle. Once the nuts are tightened, the ball joint studs are free to seek their own position but they will always stay aligned.

Yep, I hadn't thought about the importance of biasing the ends the same way, against their "stops" in the same direction, but that's important to not having any differential movement. It sounded like it would work, but I wasn't 100% sure....

One problem solved. Now if I can just do something to get the geometry close on this POS front suspension that *He Who Shall Not Be Named* put together. I thought the coil-over tube axle was a nice mix of old and new, but it sucks - at least the way *he* built it.

The latest? If I dial in a reasonable amount of caster, the drag link rubs on the hairpin. I'm not looking for help here, just venting. I'm 10 years into this project, and it still sucks.

DL-A.jpg

Is it possible the front bat wing mounts can be flipped to lower the Hair
pins? Some are offset one way more than the other, and your not using
them to mount a spring.

Just a thought, good luck.

Rich

You can remove some of the down bend in the spindle steering arms OR get a tapered reamer to deepen the tie rod end mounting(which would RAISE the tie/drag link or even double taper the arm from the top side and place the tie/drag link on top of the arm------------

how much caster are you putting into the set up---looks leaned back in the gallery photo-------

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

OR get a tapered reamer to deepen the tie rod end mounting

For the benefit of the younguns on here who may not have ever done this, be aware that there are different tapers available in reamers, so be absolutely certain that the reamer you use matches the taper of the ballstud shank......this is suspension/steering you're messin' with here and your life hangs in the balance.
tapered reamer from Speedway Motors, America's Oldest Speed Shop
.
.

Jerry,

Good ideas. I'm kind of short on tools these days, so I didn't want to try to bend the steering arms. The Pitman arm I have is double tapered, but flipping to the top side was too much. It ran the tie rod right into the harmonic balancer. See below for the fix I figured out. BTW, it's 5 Deg. caster.

Rich, That won't work. However, after looking it over more closely, I have determined that *He Who Shall Not Be Named* used the wrong Pitman arm on the steering box. He used a 1" bent-up arm with the tie rod end on the bottom. That caused the tie rod to slope downwards almost 3" from the steering arm to the Pitman arm. I'm switching to a straight Pitman arm with the tie rod end on the top. That makes the drag link parallel to the tie rod.

This was the problem I had with geometry. The wrong drag link length and wrong offset pitman arm were installed on the roller. That made the drag link ride on the hairpin, and really jam on right turns. Also note that the drag link and tie rod are not parallel.

DL-B.jpg

After a lot of measuring, a discussion with Jason at P&J and some helpful hints from here, I bought a shorter drag link and a no-offset pitman arm. After modifying the caster a little to about 6*, I put it all back together. Some time ago, I also replaced the (darn expensive) polished/chrome coil-overs to bring the panhard bar more parallel with the front axle, replaced the USED steering box that came with the roller, and got the ground clearance back with some slightly taller tires. I'll get the toe-in set tomorrow then see how it handles.

Replacing perfectly good, but incorrectly applied parts sure is expensive.

DL-E.jpg

DL-F.jpg

I took the '34 to a local shop today to double check the steering alignment since all of my setup has been in the garage with protractors, plumb bobs and chalk lines. I like this shop because they let me come in bay, observe and offer suggestions. We put the car on their laser alignment rack, and everything was OK except for toe-in - it wasy waaay off. Caster was +5.7*. Camber was +0.5* They weren't really well informed on setting toe-in on a cross steer, and their machine measures in degrees, not inches. When they asked for the toe setting, I told them not to worry about it - just set it to 0.0* and we'll go from there. When they got it dead on straight, I just said give me a tape measure. You can guess the rest.