Modified steering op-ed & discussion: know the risks when you modify steering / tie rods

[Snacktime]

Thank you..you would install the RC passenger bushing though right? I have heard conflicting things. Someone posted today on the other thread that they talked to the BB guy at Moab and he said no one should use a passenger bushing.

I see no reason not to install the passenger bushing, it prevents wear that causes more long term damage to the rack internals. The bushing does transfer energy to the housing which is considered a week point in the design. I suspect BB had a passenger bushing made, tested the limits his way and it destroyed the housing. Not sure if BB scientifically tried to figure out if just a bushing alone was a cost effective option.

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[Free2Roam]

The jks sleeves for $50, which precisely address the weak point on the tie rods at the threads, and the $50 RC bushings I have here make sense for such a modest investment. A bit of extra safety margin for the rods and the rack. I will hold off on the icon tie rods and just enjoy the new fox coilovers.

I appreciate the input.

 

[Snacktime]

I believe, in the other thread, someone joked about not believing the BB guy because he wants to sell an expensive piece of aluminum, however the question still remains.

Should we install both of the RC bushings or only the driver's side? RC's engineering is solid on some things, but not on others, so I'm curious as to the definitive answer.

I wouldn't look at this as an engineered solution. It's more of the standard offroad industry solution of removing a bearing and going to bushing to increase strength. Pretty common to take something and just beef it up.

Pretty sure BroncBuster did the same exact thing but went a step further. He skipped the bushing and just went to the next part. Take the cast aluminum and replace it with Billet aluminum.

I can tell you that the difference is one eliminates a weak point. Now it's up to you if you want to spend that much. I just don't want you to put something on your bronco and make it less safe. When I broke my steering I started laughing, if it held out another 1000ft I could have gone off a cliff and died.

 

[Aman]

I wouldn't look at this as an engineered solution. It's more of the standard offroad industry solution of removing a bearing and going to bushing to increase strength. Pretty common to take something and just beef it up.

Pretty sure BroncBuster did the same exact thing but went a step further. He skipped the bushing and just went to the next part. Take the cast aluminum and replace it with Billet aluminum.

I can tell you that the difference is one eliminates a weak point. Now it's up to you if you want to spend that much. I just don't want you to put something on your bronco and make it less safe. When I broke my steering I started laughing, if it held out another 1000ft I could have gone off a cliff and died.

Excellent, thank you!

I'm leaning towards installing both RC bushings, but plan to inspect each side of the rack this weekend and then make a decision.

If, at some point, I blow up the standard rack, I'll probably just install the HOSS 3.0 version.

 

[Free2Roam]

I wouldn't look at this as an engineered solution. It's more of the standard offroad industry solution of removing a bearing and going to bushing to increase strength. Pretty common to take something and just beef it up.

Pretty sure BroncBuster did the same exact thing but went a step further. He skipped the bushing and just went to the next part. Take the cast aluminum and replace it with Billet aluminum.

I can tell you that the difference is one eliminates a weak point. Now it's up to you if you want to spend that much. I just don't want you to put something on your bronco and make it less safe. When I broke my steering I started laughing, if it held out another 1000ft I could have gone off a cliff and died.

May I ask what tie rod setup you were using when your steering broke?

 

[Snacktime]

May I ask what tie rod setup you were using when your steering broke?

I had a set of JkS braces on a stock steering rack.

 

[Free2Roam]

I had a set of JkS braces on a stock steering rack.

Is it your opinion that with fox coilovers and icon uca's that ford would never warranty steering damage no matter what?

It seems safest route for steering rack if the plan is to avoid damaging it and paying to replace it is just to carry spare stock tie rods on the trail in case one breaks, run no tie rod bracing and run the RC bushings (just for added insurance against rack damage).
Keeps worst case scenario to a broken tie rod and replacing it on the trail, instead of steering rack breakage, not being able to drive home, and large bill and down time to replace it if it breaks.

It would just be a shame not to get any added tie rod strength when doing the suspension install and the RC bushings, I just hate the idea of having to guess at what level of tie rod bolstering is feasible without fearing a busted steering rack when using the rack bushing upgrade.

I guess it comes down to the philosophy you choose to adopt. Safest for steering rack, As outlined above. OR highest overall strength against any type of breakage (tie rod and rack) without having to put any real investment into steering rack up front until you break it (just the $50 RC bushings), in which case icon tie rods and RC bushings would be the route.

 

[Snacktime]

Warranty work is mostly luck and if you know someone. It is really hard to put a yes or a no on getting something fixed. I know I get turned down everywhere locally but my bronco has all the signs of trail use.

 

[Bird Dog Off Road]

Went with the Bronc Buster entire setup (bushing, housing end, braces) as soon as it was released over a year ago when I upgraded to 37s. I recently went with the Icon tie rods and have the BB braces/stock units in my drawer as backup. May consider the 74 Weld if I ever start having issues down the road.

 

[Tex]

We have seen mostly two kinds of failures, bent at the adjuster or snapped at the adjuster. The snapped failure is substantially worse than the bent failure as you have a complete loss of control over a partial loss of control. It is important to see the value in the type of failure as you rather have some steering vs no steering.

Man I'll take a snapped tie rod over a bent tie rod any day of the week. Most of my failures have been high speed desert running, and the difference between the two is "why does my steering suddenly feel less responsive and wiggly?" vs an instant rollover. At speed the broken tie rod will let the tire continue tracking straight along with the terrain, and you won't realized what just happened until you slow down and try to pull off the trail, that's when the tire just does whatever the terrain wants it to do. A bent tie rod is going to hold that tire tracking inward even if you manage to turn the steering all the way to the lock. You can't turn the wheel fast enough to compensate, you're already rolling by the time your brain registers something is wrong with the steering. One exception is when a vehicle has the tie rods on the rear of the spindle instead of the front like ours...a bent tie rod will hold the wheel outward, and the moment it starts rolling the tire lifts off the ground and doesn't try to tuck under the vehicle like ours will. Downside is they're far more susceptible to bent tie rods due to experiencing compressive forces with every change in terrain (i.e., hitting a rock or driving up the side of a dune at speed), so you're going to see a lot more bent tie rods. Ours see almost exclusively tensile forces at speed, and they're much stronger in that direction, but on a technical trail sliding off rocks and whatnot, that's when they're likely to see compressive forces and bend.

Neither is a good situation, but a bent rod carries with it a lot more danger at speed. Slow speed in 4WD, a broken tie rod is impossible to steer and is likely going to damage other things when the tire is driven around the ball joints more than the CV joints can handle. Drop it back into 2WD and you at least have one tire that you can control, you -might- be able to steer out of a trail with enough luck. A bent tie rod in the same situation isn't nearly as bad, as the tire will still be held in place, hopefully preventing CV damage, and a trail repair consists of a hammer or a really big prybar or just a boot and lots of anger if that's your thing to get it as straight as you can. If a tie rod is bent, it's still trash and needs replaced, but if you baby it chances are you'll make it back to pavement or somewhere more convenient to replace the tie rod.

 

[Snacktime]

Man I'll take a snapped tie rod over a bent tie rod any day of the week. Most of my failures have been high speed desert running, and the difference between the two is "why does my steering suddenly feel less responsive and wiggly?" vs an instant rollover. At speed the broken tie rod will let the tire continue tracking straight along with the terrain, and you won't realized what just happened until you slow down and try to pull off the trail, that's when the tire just does whatever the terrain wants it to do. A bent tie rod is going to hold that tire tracking inward even if you manage to turn the steering all the way to the lock. You can't turn the wheel fast enough to compensate, you're already rolling by the time your brain registers something is wrong with the steering. One exception is when a vehicle has the tie rods on the rear of the spindle instead of the front like ours...a bent tie rod will hold the wheel outward, and the moment it starts rolling the tire lifts off the ground and doesn't try to tuck under the vehicle like ours will. Downside is they're far more susceptible to bent tie rods due to experiencing compressive forces with every change in terrain (i.e., hitting a rock or driving up the side of a dune at speed), so you're going to see a lot more bent tie rods. Ours see almost exclusively tensile forces at speed, and they're much stronger in that direction, but on a technical trail sliding off rocks and whatnot, that's when they're likely to see compressive forces and bend.

Neither is a good situation, but a bent rod carries with it a lot more danger at speed. Slow speed in 4WD, a broken tie rod is impossible to steer and is likely going to damage other things when the tire is driven around the ball joints more than the CV joints can handle. Drop it back into 2WD and you at least have one tire that you can control, you -might- be able to steer out of a trail with enough luck. A bent tie rod in the same situation isn't nearly as bad, as the tire will still be held in place, hopefully preventing CV damage, and a trail repair consists of a hammer or a really big prybar or just a boot and lots of anger if that's your thing to get it as straight as you can. If a tie rod is bent, it's still trash and needs replaced, but if you baby it chances are you'll make it back to pavement or somewhere more convenient to replace the tie rod.

I have had the opposite, with my failures. Broken tie rod has always ended up full toe out with me in a ditch. I think the offset plays a large roll in how the tire tracks after a failure. Most factory setups are positive offset which track better under steering failure. My failure experience has been with large offset because that how you ran 35s on lifted ifs Chevys.

Fyi my failures always occur on road, usually after a trip to Pismo Dunes. Sand would seize the joint and snap right at the tapper. I learned to over grease everything after each trip, but this was back before sealed rod ends.

 

[Sitruc_btb]

Good write up. I installed the BB steering bushing in my rack, for cheap insurance. Well, before RC had their bushing on the market.
I did buy the JKS sleeves last year, but after reading about rack failures, transfer of forces, blah blah, I ended up not installing them.

 

[gwp]

I keep seeing people post about steering upgrades, lets talk about what you are risking.

Factory tie rods are the big item everyone talks about as being the week link. We have seen mostly two kinds of failures, bent at the adjuster or snapped at the adjuster. The snapped failure is substantially worse than the bent failure as you have a complete loss of control over a partial loss of control. It is important to see the value in the type of failure as you rather have some steering vs no steering.

Factory steering rack is the next weakest item. The biggest hazard is the loss of the tensioner that can result in a complete loss of steering. The tensioner threads break off when the internal shaft running through the housing deflects. This occurs when the driver front tire puts to much pressure on the steering system the force pushes into the plastic factory bushing deforming it and then critically failing the tensioner. You also have an issue with the passenger side as doing the same thing but instead of destroying the tensioner it eats out the aluminum housing. This extra metal enters the system and slowly destroys the plastic power assist system.

If you upgrade your tie rods you are increase the stress put on the steering rack. You are literally moving from possibility of losing 1 wheel of steering to complete loss of steering. Spending some money on a driver side Delrin bushing is about the best thing an owner can do to mitigate the design flaw of the factory steering rack. This bushing helps mitigate the loss of steering hazard by drastically increasing the force required to break the tensioner on the steering rack. At this time with what is known about the Bronco Platform I would refrain from going larger on the tie rods unless you want be part of the break it first and find out latter club.

Observations:
Most of the time the stock tie rods will fail before the steering rack.
Adding basic sleeves like JKS, Rough Country or Level Up results in a few broken racks.
Adding a steering rack bushing seems to be safe all the way up to 37s and upgraded tie rods.
Adding a passenger side housing you can move up to Icon Tie Rods and BroncBuster Braces.

This is subjective with almost no definitive proof since there are lots of different combination out there. Just don't put yourself out in the broken rack club its dangerous, its costly and takes a long time to get parts.

While I fully agree with your logic, I question the need for rack bushings if the standard front end geometry is retained. Anecdotally, I hear of lots of broken tie rods and relatively few rack failures, with the latter almost all on lifted vehicles.

I’m further led to believe that rack failures are most likely when droop exceeds factory spec following a lift, resulting in an extreme angle between rack and tie rod. Can you comment on this point?

As for me, I’m running 1.5” leveling spring perches and Stock SAS shocks, to keep suspension geometry within stock limits for droop. I popped on the Icon tie rods as a margin of safety, as IMHO the stock tie rods are garbage.

I plan to keep my rocky wheeling to moderate levels and fingers s crossed.

 

[Sitruc_btb]

While I fully agree with your logic, I question the need for rack bushings if the standard front end geometry is retained. Anecdotally, I hear of lots of broken tie rods and relatively few rack failures, with the latter almost all on lifted vehicles.

I’m further led to believe that rack failures are most likely when droop exceeds factory spec following a lift, resulting in an extreme angle between rack and tie rod. Can you comment on this point?

As for me, I’m running 1.5” leveling spring perches and Stock SAS shocks, to keep suspension geometry within stock limits for droop. I popped on the Icon tie rods as a margin of safety, as IMHO the stock tie rods are garbage.

I plan to keep my rocky wheeling to moderate levels and fingers s crossed.

I think the bushing is geared towards lifted rigs, since the altered geometry is apparently what busts the preload in the rack. That's what BB demonstrated in his R&D videos.

 

[Snacktime]

While I fully agree with your logic, I question the need for rack bushings if the standard front end geometry is retained. Anecdotally, I hear of lots of broken tie rods and relatively few rack failures, with the latter almost all on lifted vehicles.

I’m further led to believe that rack failures are most likely when droop exceeds factory spec following a lift, resulting in an extreme angle between rack and tie rod. Can you comment on this point?

As for me, I’m running 1.5” leveling spring perches and Stock SAS shocks, to keep suspension geometry within stock limits for droop. I popped on the Icon tie rods as a margin of safety, as IMHO the stock tie rods are garbage.

I plan to keep my rocky wheeling to moderate levels and fingers s crossed.

The argument of factory geometry does not cause excess damage or wear has been addressed by ford. HOSS 3.0 steering rack became standard on the model with upgraded fox suspension and I don't think this was a random item. Overall I don't think that limiting the travel is going to overcome the the factory bushing lack of support.

I would flashlight the bushing after a couple of trails to see if you are wheeling hard enough to damage the bushing.

I think the bushing is geared towards lifted rigs, since the altered geometry is apparently what busts the preload in the rack. That's what BB demonstrated in his R&D videos.

Take what he does with a grain of salt, he is doing critical failure not long term stress testing. Take a piece of plastic and slowly tap it on something hard, it will eventual crack and break. I want people to think about the long term wear slowly damaging the part. Material either wears (slowly lose material at the contact point) or permanently deform (micro cracking, exceeding the yield strength) depending on the properties. The factory bushing is just cheap black plastic so it does both (wear and deform) rather well. BB discovered that offroad engineering (swapping to a better material) fix the problem and sells this fix through youtube. This youtube entertainment R&D leaves people with polar opposite views on the subject.

If I had money and nothing better to do you could strap a steering rack to several machines and do proper stress testing. I know in college I loved to test things in the press! We had a going database of computer mouse compression strengths since they would fail all the time and we would crush them for fun.

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