stock track rod - made of cheese or just me?

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31st March 2008, 10:44 AM
Dougal

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

I'm with Dave on this.The track rod should be the fusible link, in that it is easily repaired and cheap. Reinforce the rod and you stand a very good chance of transferring the load to a less easily replaced and much more expensive component. If you want to make your own, then get a piece of 4140 or 4340 steel tube. The thread size is 11/16 x 16tpi NS right hand and left hand. I can supply taps and dies ex stock. Use a sticky cutting agent like Trefolex.

Also keep in mind that failure by buckling always happens in the middle. If you give the middle some support (like stop it moving more than a few inches) then it ends up around 4 times stronger.

My most likely failure mode isn't buckling, it'd be catching the rod on a rock and bending it that way. Hence my intention of a small skid plate and support.
31st March 2008, 12:24 PM
Blknight.aus

Quote:

Originally Posted by foz.in.oz

The only difference being that a new Deefer weighs about a tonne more and the old series trucks had the tie rod in front of the axle. This meant that the bar was in tension when the wheels struck anything, whereas the Deefers bar is in compression. Things in tension are so much stronger than in compression. Try pushing with string!

urmmmmm its in tension when its pulling the wheel around one way and its under compression when its going the other... unless youve got some magic way of having the drag link and steering box change sides of the vehicle when you turn the wheel in differing directions...
31st March 2008, 01:13 PM
isuzurover

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

If you want to make your own, then get a piece of 4140 or 4340 steel tube. The thread size is 11/16 x 16tpi NS right hand and left hand. I can supply taps and dies ex stock. Use a sticky cutting agent like Trefolex.

Yep - not 11/16 x 20 ;). For anyone wanting to make their own steering rods, Brian's Taps are good quality and for a Bargain Price!!!

Dave - I can't see how you can say that a HD track rod damages a PAS box???

It seems to be only the LR community that believe vehicles should have engineered weak links (axles and steering rods) to protect the other components.

I have upgraded both my axles and my steering rods (as have many others) and it hasn't lead to any other compoinents being broken.

I am sure that the pi$$weak track rod was simply a LR engineering oversight, rather than an intended design feature.
31st March 2008, 01:38 PM
Blknight.aus

Quote:

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Yep - not 11/16 x 20 ;). For anyone wanting to make their own steering rods, Brian's Taps are good quality and for a Bargain Price!!!

Dave - I can't see how you can say that a HD track rod damages a PAS box???

look really closely you'll see that both the drag link and tie rod are made of the same bar stock.

if you slam a wheel on something hard the rod bends, dissapating the extra force into bending the rod.

in a nutshell putting a stronger rod in is like welding in re-enforments in the crumple zones of a modern car it works well preventing it from folding up when you have a gentle touch thats just enough to bend the panel but should you have a decent hit.........

The last box we had fail at work from this stripped the splines off of the steering box and fractured the drop arm and was admited to being caused by the driver slipping leftwards on a slope and into a large boulder while trying to catch the slide by steering left and accelerating.

If we still have the box and arm I'll get pics.
31st March 2008, 01:46 PM
lokka

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

look really closely you'll see that both the drag link and tie rod are made of the same bar stock.

if you slam a wheel on something hard the rod bends, dissapating the extra force into bending the rod.

in a nutshell putting a stronger rod in is like welding in re-enforments in the crumple zones of a modern car it works well preventing it from folding up when you have a gentle touch thats just enough to bend the panel but should you have a decent hit.........

The last box we had fail at work from this stripped the splines off of the steering box and fractured the drop arm and was admited to being caused by the driver slipping leftwards on a slope and into a large boulder while trying to catch the slide by steering left and accelerating.

If we still have the box and arm I'll get pics.

Well ive bent a few and now have reinforced ones on my truck and will be going to hollow bar 32mm od soon and i havent busted anyting and its had a few hard wacks in some large ruts all i can say is that if you've seen one damaged that bad it must have been a F@#$%^$ big hit tho ive seen how some of the mil spec rovers get treated :eek::eek::eek::p:p:p:D:D:D:D
31st March 2008, 02:12 PM
weeds

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

The last box we had fail at work from this stripped the splines off of the steering box and fractured the drop arm and was admited to being caused by the driver slipping leftwards on a slope and into a large boulder while trying to catch the slide by steering left and accelerating.

If we still have the box and arm I'll get pics.

company cars....gotta love em
31st March 2008, 02:28 PM
isuzurover

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

look really closely you'll see that both the drag link and tie rod are made of the same bar stock.

if you slam a wheel on something hard the rod bends, dissapating the extra force into bending the rod.

in a nutshell putting a stronger rod in is like welding in re-enforments in the crumple zones of a modern car it works well preventing it from folding up when you have a gentle touch thats just enough to bend the panel but should you have a decent hit.........

The last box we had fail at work from this stripped the splines off of the steering box and fractured the drop arm and was admited to being caused by the driver slipping leftwards on a slope and into a large boulder while trying to catch the slide by steering left and accelerating.

If we still have the box and arm I'll get pics.

6x6 or 4x4?

That is a pretty impressive failure - never seen anyone manage to break a drop arm.
1st April 2008, 01:33 AM
rovercare

I've bent more track rods, than most people have owned Rovers, they are crud, you don't move the weak point, you eliminate it, Rover engineering sucked when it came to metalurgy, purists can disagree, but its fact;)
1st April 2008, 01:34 AM
rovercare

Quote:

Originally Posted by isuzurover

It seems to be only the LR community that believe vehicles should have engineered weak links (axles and steering rods) to protect the other components.

I have upgraded both my axles and my steering rods (as have many others) and it hasn't lead to any other compoinents being broken.

I am sure that the pi$$weak track rod was simply a LR engineering oversight, rather than an intended design feature.

^^^^^^^^Dat's it:)
1st April 2008, 05:05 AM
Dougal

Quote:

Originally Posted by rovercare

Rover engineering sucked when it came to metalurgy, purists can disagree, but its fact;)

Well actually. In buckling high strength steels aren't any better than mild steel. It's the elasticity that matters there and there's virtually no difference between cheese steel and the harder stuff.

The way to improve buckling strength is a bigger diameter, looks like everyone worked that out already.
A higher strength steel will help if you bend it by dragging the tierod over a rock or stump though.

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