Heavy duty tie rod ends

[thegame7]

Anyone see these before? Interesting they use Land Cruiser parts, wonder what year. I have a couple different cheap 100 series Cruiser tie rod ends in my Rock Auto cart to see what might work with minimal work. Reaming the spindles doesn't seem like that big of a deal if you can run a much stronger tie rod end.

4th Gen 4Runner Heavy Duty Steering Tie Rods
– Toyo-Steering

 

[wicket27]

I have a set of 100 series tie rod ends and a spare 4th gen rack I wanted to rebuild and install them on. I have some more pressing issues and would be happy to send the ends to you for just cost of shipping.

 

[thegame7]

I have a set of 100 series tie rod ends and a spare 4th gen rack I wanted to rebuild and install them on. I have some more pressing issues and would be happy to send the ends to you for just cost of shipping.

That would be cool! Does it look like the ends will work without modification? Other than reaming out the spindle hole.

 

[aemravan]

for what it's worth here is my 2 cents on this .. the factory tierod (both inner and outer) are much cheaper to replace than the upgraded LC components I'm sure.. not to mention once you ream the spindle there is no going back (easily).

I went through a similar decision point early on with my build but with the CV axles. I spent $2200 on some RCV axles with the idea that I didnt' want to do any trail repairs on exploded factory CV's ... well.... that unfortunately resulted in something that could not be repaired easily on the trail in the form of the intermediate shaft exploding itself into 3 pieces when the CV failed to let go.

The same concept could very likely manifest itself in a torn up steering rack on the trail because the tie rods didn't let go. Not saying it's a fact, but something to consider.. replacing a tie rod on trail is literally minutes of work with the right tools.. what happens if you grenade the the steering rack instead?

I'm currently running the LC200 rack swap and it is currently on my top 3 things I regret the most from the upgrades I've spent time and money on... RCV axles being the other.

If you truly want an upgraded beef steering solution I would suggest spending the time and money to go the modified tundra rack instead or just leave the system as is and carry some spare rods with you.

 

[wicket27]

I think it would be smartest to go with lc100 inner tie rods, and from my understanding they will fit on the 4th gen rack. But I'm with aemravan here in that only upgrading the outer tie rods is pretty much a moot point. Shoot me a dm if you want them otherwise Ill keep them around for some future project

 

[alia176]

There are great points to ponder on this thread when it comes to doing "one off" mods that are a PITA to repair in the field.

The word reaming is being tossed around here but I didn't see anyone mention of "tapered reaming" for the spindle. I don't know how one does this but this is necessary if you want super tight outer tie rod ends.

My buddy has a 100 series LC and he too does one off/way overboard mods after breaking OEM parts on the trail. He upgraded his upper and lower BJs with H1 hummer BJs. I'm now wondering if he also upgraded his TREs with H1 parts as well!!

 

[thegame7]

I'm not too concerned with custom reamed spindles as spindles are less likely to fail than anything else (unless you're jumping it) but I am curious if LC100 tie rod ends bolt in with no other mods needed. Trail spares would just be LC100 tie rod ends at that point due to spindle reaming, not 4runner.

I've also not heard as many stories of people upgrading tie rod ends and complaining of blown up steering racks. Maybe my research hasn't gone that deep on the subject but I'm open ears. I hate wrenching on the trail lol.

It should be as easy as checking the length and thread size on the LC100 ends to see if they will work and spindle reaming isn't necessary for that.

 

[thegame7]

I will add that I am not a hard east coast style wheeler. Slow and methodical is my approach

 

[alia176]

Philosophically speaking, I'd much rather bend a TRE vs transferring that lateral force to the steering rack or worse, bend the spindle.

I'm easy on my junk but I do use them hard. However, I'm very fortunate enough to have a 80 series that does the hard work. Even then, I don't do serious rock crawling and such. It wouldn't be hard to smash the 35" tire against a rock then climb up with F&R end locked up. Doing so also puts the front birfields (CVs) in jeopardy.

IMHO, carrying a set of TREs in the spares box along with a TRE separator would be the route I'd go for ease of swapping. Thankfully, I've never bent the TREs on either rigs but I do carry a TRE separator in the 80 tool kit.

 

[aemravan]

I'm not too concerned with custom reamed spindles as spindles are less likely to fail than anything else (unless you're jumping it) but I am curious if LC100 tie rod ends bolt in with no other mods needed. Trail spares would just be LC100 tie rod ends at that point due to spindle reaming, not 4runner.

I've also not heard as many stories of people upgrading tie rod ends and complaining of blown up steering racks. Maybe my research hasn't gone that deep on the subject but I'm open ears. I hate wrenching on the trail lol.

It should be as easy as checking the length and thread size on the LC100 ends to see if they will work and spindle reaming isn't necessary for that.

I don't think there are enough folks running upgraded/reinforced tie rod ends on the factory rack, which is likely why you're not seeing much pop up in the search for this.

I would agree that I don't see a reamed spindle failing, especially if it's reinforced, and if you have off-the-shelf lc100 ends (I have no idea on whether these truly are replacements that would work) then having a one-off custom part failing in the field is also a non issue. My biggest concern would still revolve around the added force being transferred to the rack itself, even with low-speed crawling. I've seen tie rods let go with what I would expect to be super low-speed, non violent crawling, just with shear force exerted with a front wheel trying to pull the weight of the rig up.

Likely hood of blowing out the rack is probably NOT that high, but for my rig (especially given other fuse points that I have moved and regretted terribly) I would still prefer to throw in an outer tie rod in the field vs potentially blowing out the rack and then REALLY being sh!t out of luck in the middle of the trail.
I've swapped over to the LC200 rack in the driveway, and cannot imagine having to pull the factory rack out in the field..

Ultimately if I had to make a recommendation to anyone looking to upgrade steering I would say either leave it stock and replace outers as needed, or bite the bullet and go with the cut down tundra rack for added beef and retained factory steering geometry.

 

[miller507]

I'm a fan of keeping things simple, specially if you're prone to breaking crap on the trail. [MENTION=582805]aemravan[/MENTION] is a good example, you can bulletproof your drivetrain to a point you just end up breaking things you can't fix on the trail and towing a rig out of a trail is a royal PITA.

Everybody is looking for the next big upgrade, 80% of the time they are not needed in my eyes at least.

 

[thegame7]

Yeah true. I'm just bored and used to tinkering. I actually ended up ordering a Moog inner and outer tie rod end for an early LC100 to see what the deal was. The length is longer than stock but looked to have enough adjustment to bolt up and maintain proper toe, some trimming of the outer tie rod end may be necessary to get a jam nut in there.

I didn't pull the stock inner tie rod out to see if the threads were the same but looked like they may bolt up, just guessing though.

The real deal breaker though is the ball size on the inner tie rod end. I measured between the flats on the counter bore in the steering rack to be 1.84" or so. The ball size on the LC100 is 1.95" or so. This is where this mod is a no-go and I'm still not sure how toyo steering is making it work. Machining the outer diameter off of the LC100 inner ball joint would be sketchy and there isn't much meat on the rack to open it up more.

Modified Tundra rack and these tie rod ends would be something to behold though. Talk about tough steering!