The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Modern style tie rod ends for AD

Bought a pair of modern style tie rod ends for my '51. They're advertised as 32-59 Car/Truck, and I expected them to be standard tapered shank where they go thru the steering arms, but I was really surprised to find that they are basically straight with a step in the shank. Other oddities (pointing to their source as offshore) are M10x1.5 bolts where they clamp on to the rod, but with 5/8 hex heads (kind of a bastardized bolt). My first clue was the 8.8 marking on the bolt head.
I haven't removed the balls from the steering arm yet, but expected to just be able to use a taper reamer on the holes after removing the balls. I have removed the ball from the pitman arm, which appears to be the same shank size as the tie rod balls (judging from pics in the catalogs), and these tie rod ends flop around in the resulting 5/8" nominal hole.

Has anyone had experience with these? It looks like in order to use them, I'd have to bush the holes in the steering arms. I'm tempted to send them back and go with the original style balls on the steering arms and rebuild kits for the original style tie rod ends.

Here's a pic.

Kevin, maybe 10 or 12 years ago I bought tie rod ends made by MOOG (USA) that looked similar to what you just received. MOOG was closing them out (can't recall what they were to fit originally), but they would work fine on the AD trucks if you made bushings for them and the price was right. That is what I did and haven't had any problem. As I recall, the hole was .625" and the shaft was .5625". I used a piece of thin wall conduit tube slit and bent to fit...think I had to reduce the OD a bit. I also put a washer on top where the shaft met the shoulder. Good luck.

Mine fit the holes after driving out the peened in ones, if only just ok when tightened up, when i spoke to my machinist he recommended going taper tie rod ends. (I just dont argue with a race car builder/machinist' recommendation, they see everything through a high stress environment lense)
i went with SpeedwayMotors Ford ends, they had more range of motion on the up/down (y)axis than the ones you have, important on the drag link front location (not relevant on tie rod as that operates only in x axis) if you go this piece by piece route dont forget to order the jam nuts (dont ask).

i bought "Speedway 11/16 Inch Raw Tie Rod/Drag Link Tubing" to use for new tie rod, and 2nd shorter length to make a adjustable drag link.(also bought RH tap from them so i could tune the lengths)

I liked that top part of the ford tie rod taper is narrower than GM ones, less material removed when reaming. BTW he did not taper to the bottom of the holes.......stopped at least 1/8-3/16 short, so taper short & check fit, too deep reduces y axis rotation.....and threads might extend lower out bottom that you might need a fat washer

Thanks for the Speedway suggestion. These look interesting. They're 7 degree taper studs and the same 1/2-20 thread on the end, but the question is the diameter of the taper right next to the threads. Looks like it might be 5/8-inch diameter, but not shown. That would allow the steering arms to be reamed to fit the taper. The rod threads are smaller though, so the original tie rod would have to be turned down and rethreaded to match. They also have an extended length one that's closer to the ones I bought.
I'll need to do a bit more investigation.

I used a set like you purchased and had no problems with fit. I bought my from https://www.bowtiebits.com/index.cfm The straight shank is a direct replacement for the press in balls. No shims or bushings required.

Great discussion here about the need to pay attention to detail with aftermarket and retrofit parts.

In the original post Kevin noted that the bolt was metric but with an inch size head.

My thinking is that it is a true metric M10x1.5 Class 8.8 Capscrew. It has a 16 mm hex head. Across the globe you will find M10 cap screws with either 14mm, 15 mm, 16 mm, or 17 mm hex head based on the standard used in that country.

Note that 5/8” is 15.88 mm. So a 5/8 wrench or socket is a very nice fit on a nominal size 16 mm hex head. I often use inch tools on metric or metric tools on inch hex heads when I want to slightly tighter fit.

For example, yesterday I used a 14 mm crow’s foot wrench to torque the 2 center 9/16” headed bolts on the manifold of my ‘37. I do not own an inch set of crow’s foot wrenches and the 14 mm fit snuggly on the 9/16” head (14.28 mm).

You should be able to use the 3/4 ton tie rods ends on your 1/2 ton. Probably have to do some reaming and you will need the matching tie rod. My 1/2 ton came with the 3/4 ton tie rod and tie rod ends. (might be something they did on trucks built in Canada)

@TBUChevy, I know about some interchangeability between metric and inch size bolt heads, but don't have a 16mm wrench, so assumed it was a 5/8 head. I've never run across a 10MM metric bolt with a 16mm head or I would have had that size wrench. Thanks for the info.

@Joe H, I may find that they fit OK, but haven't gotten the worn balls off the steering arms yet. I had never seen a non-tapered tie rod end before.

@Gord, Thanks for that info. I might see if I can drum up a 3/4 ton tie rod and go that way.

Thanks all for the input.

You will find the hole in the arms after you remove the ball ends to be more hourglass shaped then straight. The hourglass gives the metal a place to go when they peen them over, this also makes removing them a little tough. If you go to drilling, don't go past 1/2" or the new ones won't fit. Drill the bottom out to relieve the peening process, then knock them out.

Got the steering arms off yesterday and today finally got the tie-rod ends loose and off the balls.

A burning question for you guys. Do you think I can reuse the balls? Here's an example of one and the corresponding cup from the tie rod end.

If the ball is not round, the heavy springs in the matting part compressed and expand as you turn, this cause the driver to work harder each time. With round balls, the springs stay at a constant pressure. Also note in the second picture where to cup has dug into the stem of the ball. This is normal wear and needs to be addressed.

Yep one of the springs was broken as well. This is going to be addressed by tossing the old ends in the scrap pile. The balls are coming out. I’ve got replacement balls for the drag link but going with the modern style tie rod ends.

removing the ball was no big deal, i used the youtube method shown by Brothers Truck parts,

ie: cutting wheel on grinder to cut off the ball flush with arm, them put arm over a socket & drive/punch the shank out from the ball end down with a 5lb sledge, 3 hits to get it moving then out she slid.

The drag link (as you already know) can be made using new style parts. One of the parts suggested for this has become very hard (if not impossible) to find, but there are workarounds using different parts and you can either use the MOOG search using dimensions, threads, etc or call MOOG. The man I talked to there (about 4 or 5 years ago) was very helpful, impressively well informed and had good ideas for substitution possibilities. Sounded to me like he had done similar work himself. Aside from easy adjustment, one nice thing is if the parts wear, you can replace them much more easily. And they're sealed so dust, dirt, water, salt, snow, etc isn't the same problem. And there is zero play once you do this. I expected the new parts might make steering easier, but honestly I can't say they did. Feels about the same from that aspect.

What I learned about the replacement balls available when I did this (mid 90s) was they are nowhere near as hard as the originals were. In fact I think they were nothing more than mild steel. They certainly wore out in a hurry. Good luck!

If you know a good machinist, have them cut you left and right hand threads in some strong bar stock then use two more of the modern tie-rod ends for an easy to adjust draglink. You end up with four sealed ends that match. An alternative to machining a new bar is to find a second long tie-rod end bar, cut it down to draglink size saving the left hand threaded end. Buy a die for right hand thread cutting and thread the other end.

klhansen Those balls are probably worn out of round,you adjust then when you turn they get tighter.

Got all the balls out today and discovered that the tie rod ends I bought will work just fine. The drag link ball on the left steering arm was a little stubborn and didn't want to move with the ball joint press, so had to break out the O/A torch. A couple seconds of heat and it popped loose. Got the replacement drag link balls pressed in place and peened over as the originals were, so things are working out well. And yes, the original balls were more egg shaped than spherical.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions.