I am planning or purchasing a set of aftermarket inner and outter tie rods soon but I am really concerned about thier safety.
My buddy bought a set of Megan outter rods and installed them himself. After about one month, the outter rod became loose, disconnected from the spindle and caused the wheel to turn violently to one side. He is lucky that he didn’t crash his car.
Anyways, I think the problem is with the design of these outter tie rods. The OEM design uses a large bolt as well as a cotter pin to secure the outter rod to the spindle where as all of the aftermarket options I’ve seen do not use a cotter pin. Here is a pic of what I’m talking about:
Anyways, is there a proper way to install these or something or should I just not bother with them?
Silvia… if the joint is properly lubed and tourqed it will not come lose. Read the FSM for the proper procedure. I recently installed a set of Tien inner and outers. They are great units and will not fall apart.
If a product is poorly made then no matter what you do to try and secure it, it’s not going to work for long. Poor design, weak parts, poor tolerances … all lead to an accelerated breakdown of the part. This is a Capt. Obvious moment… cheap = crap in 99.99% of the cases.
dont get moog, mine got blown after a year of use, they do not take well the abuse, especially from a stiffer suspension. They have so much play now.
I would suggest tein or if you really want SPL, kazama and battle version too. I am getting Z32 type inner and outer pro SPL rods as soon as they are back in production in august… they are fully adjustable and more sturdy and lighter than any other design.
Even my mechanic said the moog ones are shyte… then a few months ago I also read that the moog ones are manufactured ‘x’ company (i forget which) which are sub-oem quality… even though it says “heavy duty replacment” hah… and of course they don’t have adjustability as the likes of the other non-oem replacment aftermarket rods.
Something that can’t last a year sure sucks to me…
All in all, when one component in the suspension or many get uprated to the likes of stiffer or bushless components, the weaker components become even more prone to damage/failure. Have to compnesate for the stronger component by upgrading the weaker components… The moog one just isn’t up to the task… but yes it’s dirt cheap, but you get what you pay for…
If you are looking for a premium product then you want the SPL pieces. They are awesome, using a really good QA1 rod end.
The Tein ones are essentially factory S14 inner and outters with a spacer on the inside of the inner tie rod.
The Megan / Knock-off ones use a pretty good inner tie rod, i would be surprised if it was any different from the Tein.
The outter tie rod is definately the weaker peice. The design is 100% identical to all aftermarket outter tie rods just with lesser inputs. However,the issue your friend has sounds install related. The bolt should not just fall off. The nut is a nylon lock nut for shit’s sake…
yea, wasnt tightened properly is what i would imagine, doesnt mean its bad quality…
h and r spacers have done that many times even with the right torq, doesnt make them a poor quality item, its just part of the game…always re torq moving parts after driving 4-500km to be 100% sure.
