Tie rod upgrades?

I had some fairly major trail damage about three weeks ago but have been on vacation so haven't posted about it until now.

It probably started when I was in Moab and my front wheels got in a wedgie enough to nick one of my front rims and peel the bead back a ways. When I returned home I noticed that the driver side tie rod was bent a little near the start of the threads (no photo, sorry). I thought, "I should try and sleeve that before I go out again." but I procrastinated. When I was in the Rio Puerco trying an obstacle I had done before, I ended up snapping the tie rod and ripping the CV out of the hub. After some work with the Hi-Lift, we managed to get the half shaft back in place enough to back down off the rock I was on and back on level ground. Some further work 'splinting' the tie rod with a wrench and some hose clamps and I was able to start the long drive out.

We ended up having to repair the splint a couple more times over the first five miles before the hose clamps started to fail and we couldn't get them tight enough to hold.

It was 10 PM by now, so I left it there and rode back into town (through a terrible sandstorm) with my buddy to get some food and find some more hose clamps and some U-bolt clamps. We drove back out that night and clamped the splint with the U-bolts and was able to get it out of the backcountry and back in my driveway.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...MAGE_252-1.jpg
A couple things may be of interest. First, it drove ok in 4-LO, but if I went to 4-HI, the broken CV would grind. Also, the ESP/BAS warning light had been on since Moab (three weeks earlier), but after the halfshaft and tie rod were replaced, the warning light went off and hasn't come on since.

The bottom line is that with 33's, I don't think the stock tie rods are nearly strong enough and see three options: aftermarket linkages, sending out the stock tie rods for heat-treating and hardening, and sleeving the stock linkages. Any recommendations?

I may have read that wrong, but did you replace the tie rod that bent before you went out again? It sounds like the tie rod bent a little, and you went out wheeling again and it broke. As soon as a tie rod bends, even slightly, they're toast and need to be replaced.


I've put some thought into sleeving my tie rods and am leaning towards that i'd rather spend $80 to bring trail side spares with me (that's 1 inner and 2 outters. the inners are interchangeable).

Stronger tie rods are common upgrades for a lot of offroad systems, but these have been used where you're also upgrading the other components (center links, idler/pitman arms, and even steering boxes). For our XK's, we're stuck with the rack&pinion which can't be upgraded. I would prefer to bend/break a tie rod as opposed to strip out the rack (which would be the next point of failure).

So for me, it comes down to what would be the better sacrificial part? Also, keeping trail side spares can be used on other vehicles in a pinch... or used when your tie rods need to be replaced from normal wear & tear regardless.

I agree it already being bent meant it was going to fail at anytime and I guess your lucky it happened on a obstacle and not the highway. I also agree with being carefull what you make stronger. Making a cheap easily replaced part stronger causing a expensive harder part to replace fail might not be good. I like the trail repair though was there any damage tomthe half shaft at all?

Yes. It was a bad judgement call on my part. The rod was bent only about 2 degrees and I thought I could get by. Live and learn.
They replaced the half-shaft and tie rod. I'm not sure what damage to the CV there was as I didn't get it back to look at but the boot was torn up pretty good and the bearings all fell out. Like I said, it didn't make any disconcerting noises when it was in 4LO, but did when I tried to go into 4HI.

I like the idea of letting the least expensive, easiest to replace, part fail, but carrying some spares sounds like a good idea.