That's why the call 'em tie rods

Yup! Brings back a memory--I once had to bring my '75 Dodge Power Wagon a mile or so home with one tie rod end held in place with a ratchet strap. Made a couple mighty wide, slow turns, but got it there with no problems.

could be called a pun too...? lol.

Seems like that used to happen along the road more than it does now. I remember the bread truck around here was a Ford Econoline van. He sat along the road one day and dad stopped to help him. A tie rod end had fallen off. Dad wired it up for him like that and got him in to town.

I'll tell you a way to make one last a little longer. Knock the ball out of the arm,put a flat washer down over it and weld the washer to the socket to hold the ball in. I've made them last a few years on chore tractors that are just used around the yard.

Had to do the same thing to my 4630 ford a while back just to get back to the barn, mine was on the other side.

A tie rod dropped off on the 1086 one time when I was pulling a field cultivator in the field. I had saddle tanks on the tractor at the time and couldn't see the front wheels so when the tractor started pulling down I didn't pay much attention till I figured out I couldn't steer it.

Another time I came up on a semi stopped half way around a gravel road intersection. The right tie rod had dropped off and there he sat with one wheel pointed out. I got him in the pickup with me and we went to a neighbor, who I knew and got a couple of hydraulic jacks and a few blocks. We jacked the wheel off the ground and I got the tie rod back on the ball using t he other jack to push it back on the ball. Then I wired it up in place and he was good to go. I told him to drive slow going home which was a good ten miles away. A week or so later I saw that truck parked at the local elevator and took a peek at the tie rod. It was still wired up!

Story number three; a local farmer was darned near killed when the wired up tie rod on his tractor dropped out while he was going down the road. The tractor went in the ditch and rolled on top of him breaking a bunch of his ribs. He is still with us but it was touch and go for awhile.

I've done the washer trick a few times. Temporarily permanent.

Ya,you kind of forget about it after a while. LOL
I think it's what they call getting lulled in to a false sense or security.

Spent many hours driving a tractor with the tie rods held on with bunge's.

had tie rod break on my JD 430 with #35 loader the other day(very hard on tie rods) lowered the loader and chained right axle to loader frame then lifted enough I could drive to shop on left front tire. Not great but went slow and it worked out.

I saw a late model Chevy 1500 parked on the side of the road the other day, front wheels both pointing out. I don't know what broke or came loose, probably the ball come out of the rack. Maybe one of the local front end alignment "technicians" left something loose...



But I remember when I was a kid, at my dads service station, I found a box of "repair kits" stashed in the back room, obviously something some salesman had convinced my dad to buy.

They were for loose tie rod ends. It was a washer and a spring, take the taper stud loose, put the spring and washer on, put the stud back in.

It took up the slack all right, but what a way to fix something!

Very good friend of mine had a fairly new IH 1466 with 20.8 x 38 tires. That tractor would FLY. 20 plus MPH. He was running wide open pulling gravity wagons when the right front tie rod end broke. The tractor shot into the ditch and rolled. The gravity wagons plowed in the tractor in the ditch. He was gone in just a minute. I had just talked to him a mile up the road.

The tie rod end had snapped right under the taper. You could see where it had been cracked. I figured it had gotten cracked during plowing. You can hammer a dead furry hard on the ends. At the time we where all still plowing everything.

A farm I worked on had a ford 4600 that the tie rod
fell off the ball, the mechanic took the ball out and
welded the bottom up were it wears out, and put it
back on, it lasted quite a while, this tractor never
was roaded anywhere!

rubber strap has been holding mine since last august

Those were probably rebuild kits for the really old style tie rods that could be tightened or taken apart and rebuilt. Those style have a hollow tube with a threaded plug that tightens a spring that pushes on a cup. There was a "draglink" socket to adjust them with, a socket that looks like a big straight blade screwdriver.

that is sad ,.. my findings with ihc steel there is no tinsel strength in their metal , I can take a visegrip and easily bend 3/16steel on their haybines cant do that with massey steel or new Holland , or old case metal

Dumb question: What do new tie rods cost?

(quoted from post at 01:14:28 01/26/17) Dumb question: What do new tie rods cost?

Click to expand...

Apparently as much as the market will bear. I've seen them for as little as $12 and as much as $200 for smaller tractors.

They last years