Broken Tie Rod

Hi Guys,

Truck has been in service for a few years now, served us well with only minor problems and routine maintenance. I gave my MM to a close friend: RIchard, a little over a year ago. He is not experienced mechanic, but willing to learn. So I am here to introduce RIchard, and get him started on this forum. I'll look over his shoulder if needed through this repair.

Problem at hand: broken driver side tie rod. I myself am not up to speed on front end/steering issues, so maybe both of us will learn something.

Attached a few photos that illustrate issue.

Appreciate any help walking through removing and replace. Also concerned (see photo) how this piece "sheared", not sure why. Wondering if this indicates other parts likely should be replaced too (???).

Attachment 21178Attachment 21179Attachment 21180Attachment 21181

Yikes! Is that jam nut tight? If it were loose and allowing the inner tie rod to wiggle around in the threads, it could have fatigued the metal leading to the failure. Other than that, poor metallurgy is my only guess. Hope he wasn't driving too fast.

This would've been 'entertaining' when it snapped. Judging by the fact you're only asking how to fix this and not how to straighten a crushed roof turret, I say he got off very lightly. Going to need locking jaw pliers and the appropriate spanner to undo that adjusting nut - and that's about it (and some oomph to crack it) You'll need to get it wheel aligned after the tie rod end has been replaced. Whatever that tie rod end was made from wasn't tempered correctly. Don't cheap out on a ROC tie rod end. Look for anything else under there that appears to be 'iffy' (like my radius rod that was bent in 2 places...) This might've broken from shock loading but not likely. It should've broken or bent something else before the tie rod...

Thank you both for your response to my first MM forum post. My computer skills are close to nil.

Would it be best to have both wheels up before the repair?. Am not understanding the term 'jam nut' .The Chilton manual does not mention that term. any suggestions regarding what to look for in the rest of the assembly that may not be right?

This past Monday, turning the truck around on my street is where the shear happened. my first feeling was that there were two flat tires... was able to reposition truck in front of the house. As you both mentioned this incident might have been fateful for many.

Jam nut is the locking nut in the tie rod, which keeps the length set in the correct place.

Get the front end up in the air and inspect the whole lot. Give all the steering and suspension components a good tug. There should be no play/knocking in the steering, you will feel it before you see it.

Any chance of a close up pic of the broken end? I want to see the break pattern.

You going to hear a few different terminologies for parts descriptions on the forum due to it being a global community. Hoods get called bonnets, fenders get called guards, trunks get called boots and a pick-up gets called a bakkie or a ute. And you're doing fine for a noob, you've even somehow managed to keep all of your pics oriented up the right way as well (don't know why it does it, but it's eventually get everyone lol). You should get it up on stands and take the wheel off so you're not fighting the steering hub and the weight of the wheel. Guesstimate the adjustment as best as you can and then drive it into a shop for alignment (run a tape measure over the other side and use that as a guide)