Does anybody have specs how much to torque the nut on the tapered stud (not the 11/16" thread that goes into the tubing)? Never gave it much thought, but would be nice to know. - thanks!
Tug kinda hard on the end of the wrench, then tighten it more until the slot aligns with the hole so you can put the cotter pin in. I looked in a 66 chevy shop manual, pretty sure they're 7/16" threads, specifies 40 ft lb
Ford tie rods are 1/2" 20. I have been torquing them to 50 ft lbs but mine don't have cotter keys they are the new fangled ones with nylocs on them. never had a problem. 40 to 50 and then tighten to line up cotter key hole and you will be golden Donny
Just like our discussion on ball joint failures which led to torque specs, Donny has it right. Minimum torque spec then tighten to line up a slot.
Thanks guys. Is it possible that the tapered end uses a 12mm thread rather than SAE. I was playing around with some tie rod ends cleaning up the threads and neither 1/2" )too big) or 7/16" (too small) nuts seemed to fit. Have to check again tonight, was in a hurry so I might be wrong...
Anything is possible but I have never seen one with 11/16" threads and 12 mm threads.... More info, what kind of car and what tie rods do you have?
They are the standard Ford / aftermarket tie rod ends. As I said let me check again tonight before I send everybody on a wild goose chase ;-)
I've never seen a tierod with metric threads but most of mine are probably older than I am, made before WWII when the Japanese and Nazis and Commies beat us and forced us to adopt their Godless measurements. Metric threads there would not surprise me, though. Lots of previously all standard components have been switching to metric threads on those fasteners that do not affect other parts...for a long time, actually. I have a circa 1980 Chevy truck turbo 400 that used metric fasteners to hold on the converter shield and pan, for instance. Anything that had to engage anything within was normal standard threads. The nut holding the tapered end of the tierod end comes with the part and does not engage anything else on the vehicle, and would be perfectly usable even with Ottoman Turkish threads based on the old Fahdi-Gazeeble standard abolished by Ataturk. All it has to do is drag the taper into place. I'm guessing there are savings in buying tooling and fasteners nowadays when using metric wherever possible.
Bruce, it's good to see you have a proper opinion of that measurement system which is based on a number system which is based on how many toes we have...rather than being easy to work with.... long live hexadecimal
Boy I miss the good old days when we'd just hit it with the impact and then bump it until the hole and slot lined up.
Sounds fair to me. I have a formula that I use at work, kind of long: Torque = K x Stress Cross Section x .5 (Ftu) x nominal thread diameter. Using .2 for K and 70,000 for Ftu (Ultimate Tensile Strength): T = .2 x .149 x .5 (70,000) x .437 = 455 in-lbs, = 37.9 ft-lbs. So 40 ft-lbs is well in the ball park. Bob
Measured the threads on the tapered stud again and they are metric M12x1.25mm. The tie rods are most likely the Speedway ford type tie rods (had them for years so I don't really know where I bought them anymore). There is really no problem with them as long as nobody puts a 1/2"-2- nut on them (which will fit very loosely), and which which would likely strip under the slightest load. Thanks again for everybody's input!
Yep, I ran into the same problem with castle nuts not fitting (or fitting loosly) and sure enough, they were Speedway tie rod ends.
Glad to hear I am not making this up in my mind, haha. Also don't want this to be some kind of Speedway bashing. The pieces seemed nicely made and held up for years on my car and are still tight.
Wasnt meaning to bash Speedway...Ive had very good luck with their stuff and they have always treated me right!
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