Does This Tie Rod End Look Normal?

Breto31

TJ Enthusiast
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Kentucky
Replaced the crappy tie rod/ends that were on the jeep when I bought it with the ZJ conversion. Ever since then, I’ve been chasing a small wheel wobble (intermittent, at various speeds), and some “diving”….. At one point I replaced my track bar too, but the frame-mount was too big for the new bar I put in, so I had to upgrade to an even larger track bar that required me to drill out the hole - and that took care of some of my “diving”, but it’s still there slightly. Got to looking at my TRE and was wondering if these looked normal. I was hypothesizing that maybe the hole in the knuckle for my TRE’s are too big and is allowing for some tie rod movement.

I haven’t had a chance to find someone to do a steering test with me to see if these TRE’s move any when I steer.

3F5AB28C-B4CF-437C-A03A-C089B08DDB2B.jpeg
 
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The boot do look a bit compressed. make sure the nut is torqued to spec and do thet test. I do recall a post a bit ago questioning the Knuckles tapered holes compared to the TRE's tapered shaft and how the fit poorly. IIRC it was a question of not dropping into the taper far enough though. Surely others will chime in in short order.
 
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The boot do look a bit compressed. make sure the nut is torqued to spec and do thet test. I do recall a post a bit ago questioning the Knuckles tapered holes compared to the TRE's tapered shaft and how the fit poorly. IIRC it was a question of not dropping into the taper far enough though. Surely others will chime in in short order.

I loosened them, knocked them out, and then retorqued them to 55 ft/lb. It feels a little better, but that might just be my imagination.
 
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I couldn't tell if there was movement in the short clip but the cotter pin should not be above the castle nut. possibly the wrong TRE for your Jeep?
 
I couldn't tell if there was movement in the short clip but the cotter pin should not be above the castle nut. possibly the wrong TRE for your Jeep?

Didn’t realize I posted a video. Just fixed that.

That’s kind of what I was thinking, but not sure. I need to have my wife turn the wheel while I hold the TRE to see if it moves any.

The lift and everything was already installed by the PO. The tie rod and steering components all looked stock to me, but maybe bot…. I did the ZJ tie rod upgrade, and I upgraded the track bar. I had that same issue with the track bar. The Moog track bar I bought didn’t fit in the frame-side hole, so the bolt was moving around like crazy causing a lot of “diving”. Upgraded to a beefier track bar that required drilling out a larger hole, and it is much better.
 
Reviving this old post - I’m still chasing down a solution here.

It appears that my tie rod end(s) are sitting too deep or too high, and I believe that’s it’s causing me to have a wheel wobble that I’ve been chasing for a couple of years or so.

I swapped the tie rod that came on the jeep (it appeared to be the stock tie rod) with the ZJ conversion. The pics on this thread are of my ZJ tie rod that is currently on the jeep. I bought the parts listed on the “ZJ Conversion” thread from the forum. I swapped the ZJ tie rod and put the beefier drag link on it as well, all at the same time. That’s when the wobble started.

Is there any solution to get the tie rod/tie rod end(s) seated correctly without replacing the whole thing? The ZJ tie rod only has 1 actual tie rod end on it, the other is part of the actual tie rod. Both appear to have the same issue based on the pics (that they are seated too deeply).
 
Reviving this old post - I’m still chasing down a solution here.

It appears that my tie rod end(s) are sitting too deep or too high, and I believe that’s it’s causing me to have a wheel wobble that I’ve been chasing for a couple of years or so.

I swapped the tie rod that came on the jeep (it appeared to be the stock tie rod) with the ZJ conversion. The pics on this thread are of my ZJ tie rod that is currently on the jeep. I bought the parts listed on the “ZJ Conversion” thread from the forum. I swapped the ZJ tie rod and put the beefier drag link on it as well, all at the same time. That’s when the wobble started.

Is there any solution to get the tie rod/tie rod end(s) seated correctly without replacing the whole thing? The ZJ tie rod only has 1 actual tie rod end on it, the other is part of the actual tie rod. Both appear to have the same issue based on the pics (that they are seated too deeply).
Have you taken these off and measured to see if someone drilled out the hole? Is it still tapered? You can look and there are tapered sleeves, but I thought I read that would not be the preferred, getting new Knuckles would be a better long term option. You saw that your track bar mount was specifically drilled out, so the previous owner was putting in components that needed drilling out....that's just a clue, not definitive, but seems like a real possibility. Mine are not that deep, and the pin is above the castle nut, should be a good clue.
 
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I feel like maybe I should know this - BUT - aren’t the stock TRE’s tapered?…. I was looking at the Moog ones from the ZJ conversion, and they don’t appear to be tapered.

I’ve been up for a while, so I might not be thinking clearly….
 
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/re-drilling-knuckles.7207/

I think this thread would do you well. Read through it, and look at what @mrblaine stated in a similar situation. He has knuckles (long while back, might still have them) but that is what appears to be the solution.

The ZJ Tie Rod is an upgrade, but still uses stock Knuckle tapered. The Draglink from Pitman Arm to Knuckle isn’t an upgrade, the TJ and ZJ are the same.

Personally, I’d reach out and see if he sold them and if it sounds like the issue.

Your background info has a hole that the taper is drilled frame side track mount so you couldn’t use the stock.

That is suspicious that a previous owner put on equipment that needed drilling, then threw on the stock equipment to sell it, total jerkoff move in my opinion. Real dangerous A-Hole, but that’s just a suspicion.
 
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/re-drilling-knuckles.7207/

I think this thread would do you well. Read through it, and look at what @mrblaine stated in a similar situation. He has knuckles (long while back, might still have them) but that is what appears to be the solution.

The ZJ Tie Rod is an upgrade, but still uses stock Knuckle tapered. The Draglink from Pitman Arm to Knuckle isn’t an upgrade, the TJ and ZJ are the same.

Personally, I’d reach out and see if he sold them and if it sounds like the issue.

Your background info has a hole that the taper is drilled frame side track mount so you couldn’t use the stock.

That is suspicious that a previous owner put on equipment that needed drilling, then threw on the stock equipment to sell it, total jerkoff move in my opinion. Real dangerous A-Hole, but that’s just a suspicion.

We have several sets of knuckles.
 
https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/re-drilling-knuckles.7207/

I think this thread would do you well. Read through it, and look at what @mrblaine stated in a similar situation. He has knuckles (long while back, might still have them) but that is what appears to be the solution.

The ZJ Tie Rod is an upgrade, but still uses stock Knuckle tapered. The Draglink from Pitman Arm to Knuckle isn’t an upgrade, the TJ and ZJ are the same.

Personally, I’d reach out and see if he sold them and if it sounds like the issue.

Your background info has a hole that the taper is drilled frame side track mount so you couldn’t use the stock.

That is suspicious that a previous owner put on equipment that needed drilling, then threw on the stock equipment to sell it, total jerkoff move in my opinion. Real dangerous A-Hole, but that’s just a suspicion.

I’ll check out the thread. Thanks!

The lift was already installed when I bought the Jeep, but I didn’t really start having any issues until I did the ZJ upgrade - I didn’t need to do it, just seemed like a nice, easy upgrade to what appeared to be the stock tie rod. I wish I had kept the equipment I took off so I could review it or reinstall it, but I didn’t. I solved the track bar problem by upgrading to an adjustable bar that required a larger hole - I drilled the whole out and solved that issue….. Now I’m just trying to chase this little wheel wobble.

I did the dry steer test, and I couldn’t feel anything on the TRE’s that felt loose. I’m just going off of the eyeball test that the TRE’s looks like they are seated too deep in the knuckle.
 
I’ll check out the thread. Thanks!

The lift was already installed when I bought the Jeep, but I didn’t really start having any issues until I did the ZJ upgrade - I didn’t need to do it, just seemed like a nice, easy upgrade to what appeared to be the stock tie rod. I wish I had kept the equipment I took off so I could review it or reinstall it, but I didn’t. I solved the track bar problem by upgrading to an adjustable bar that required a larger hole - I drilled the whole out and solved that issue….. Now I’m just trying to chase this little wheel wobble.

I did the dry steer test, and I couldn’t feel anything on the TRE’s that felt loose. I’m just going off of the eyeball test that the TRE’s looks like they are seated too deep in the knuckle.

Unless the tapers are damaged and you'd likely see it with rust dust under the nut, it is very unlikely that your little wobble is from the seating depth of the pins.
 
I pulled my TRE off today, and the knuckles are not drilled. They’re still tapered. Guess I’ll need to look elsewhere.
 
Back on this front/drivers side shimmy (left to right shimmy)…..

I had my tires rebalanced, and rotated. Still shimmying….. I replaced the TRE at the pitman arm (the only one I didn’t replace when I did the ZJ conversion). Still shimmying.

I have noticed that it’s mostly around 50-60mph that I can see/feel it - I can see the wheel shimmying slightly left/right when I feel it. It’s NOT all the time at that speed. It’s very intermittent. I can’t notice that there’s any 1 thing that causes it (no bumps or anything trigger it). It feels like an out of balance wheel, but I have had them balanced 3-4 times, and rotated them. Also replaced the drivers side hub assembly/u-joint. Replaced the DPA with a stock PA.

This is also the second set of wheels I’ve had on it that do this. The cheap steel wheels were really bad. My alloy ones are not nearly as bad as the steel ones, but they still do it intermittently.

I’ve taken it to the only 4x4 shop in my town, and they had no clue (they’re not really a 4x4 shop IMO - mostly known for making big trucks look huge with Rough Country lifts).
 
Back on this front/drivers side shimmy (left to right shimmy)…..

I had my tires rebalanced, and rotated. Still shimmying….. I replaced the TRE at the pitman arm (the only one I didn’t replace when I did the ZJ conversion). Still shimmying.

I have noticed that it’s mostly around 50-60mph that I can see/feel it - I can see the wheel shimmying slightly left/right when I feel it. It’s NOT all the time at that speed. It’s very intermittent. I can’t notice that there’s any 1 thing that causes it (no bumps or anything trigger it). It feels like an out of balance wheel, but I have had them balanced 3-4 times, and rotated them. Also replaced the drivers side hub assembly/u-joint. Replaced the DPA with a stock PA.

This is also the second set of wheels I’ve had on it that do this. The cheap steel wheels were really bad. My alloy ones are not nearly as bad as the steel ones, but they still do it intermittently.

I’ve taken it to the only 4x4 shop in my town, and they had no clue (they’re not really a 4x4 shop IMO - mostly known for making big trucks look huge with Rough Country lifts).

Did you watch the tires on the balancer to see if they run true?