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RE: Tie Rods--Question

To: Steve Laifman <SLaifman@socal.rr.com>,
Subject: RE: Tie Rods--Question
From: Theo Smit <theo.smit@dynastream.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 14:56:15 -0600
I just re-read that thread on TU.com, and near the bottom of it David
Sosna makes this remark:

"Rotating the end of the arm about 20 degrees kept the end of the arm
where was, but allowed a smaller tie rod end to be used, and angled the
ball joint so that the tang pointed outboard towards the wheel and the
body of the ball joint itself pointed inboard slightly to gain clearance
with the rim. Now all I need to do is track down that smaller tie rod
end and get some new ones."

This is not necessarily a good thing to do. First of all, steering arms
are forged and (usually) heat treated, and I don't think that twisting
them, either with heat or without, is good for the longevity of the arm.
The second reason is that the critical point that you're trying to put
in the right place, is the ball joint part of the tie rod end, because
that's where the pivot is, and that's what determines the Ackerman and
bump steer. Twisting the steering arms so as to provide clearance for
the ball joint by moving the joint inboard negates the Ackerman
improvement. Lastly, tie rod ends have limited freedom of movement, and
using up 20 degrees of it by twisting the steering arms may cause
binding of the tie rods on the steering arm at or near the limits of
suspension droop.
 
Theo  





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