Carli Suspension Steering Tie-Rod System

One of the prominent issues among early adopters is the Bronco’s steering. As customers added larger-than-stock rubber, it became commonplace to carry extra tie-rods for when the factory inner (or outer, less prevalent but still possible) snapped while out exploring. Our Engineers went to work on a bullet-proof solution!

The Tie-Rod itself is machined from Heat-Treated 4140, then protected with the same Moly coating found on our legendary ball joints. The heart of the Inner Tie-Rod assembly is a ball joint with machined grease grooves and a drilled port through to the zerk fitting hole for easy greasing.

The Grease-Port is drilled before the boot ensuring the tie-rod remains protected and greasing the wear surfaces is quick and convenient.

The Inner Tie Rod Assembly is simple, extremely strong and fully adjustable/rebuildable. The Tie-Rod is encapsulated with Bronze wear surfaces on both sides. The coating on the tie-rod, being moly-based, mixes with the redline CV2 grease to provide the perfect lubricant to polish the 4140 to the bronze races. If and when you achieve measurable movement, tighten the cap to remove the slack!

On the other end, you’ll find the outer Tie-Rod machined from a solid chunk of 6061 Billet Aluminum. This rod-end is treated to the same hard-anodize as the upper control arms (pictured RAW on installed shot below, all product photos reflect the correct coating).

The outer tie-rod end attaches to the threaded tie-rod via the machined threads and secures in place (and adjusts toe alignment) via the 2 pinch bolts. The pinch bolt hardware is 12-point and threads into (replaceable) press-fit steel inserts to ensure maximum strength relative to small diameter aluminum threads.

The bearing assembly is made up of our CUB (Captured Urethane Bearing) joint. At the center, a 3/4″ Teflon Lined FK bearing which we encapsulate with our propriety races to dampen vibrations while extending the life of the heim. This assembly is preloaded into the housing and retained under-tension with a safety washer and snap-ring.

We’ve added a billet machined bracket to provide double-shear support to the outer tie-rod end connection. The rod-end itself is spaced between this bracket and the knuckle by the provided 17-4 Stainless Steel misalignment spacers to maximize the travel range of the system.

Features:

– Greaseable and Rebuildable Inner Tie-Rod End
– Billet Double-Shear Knuckle Bracket for Outer Tie rod end
– Billet Outer Tie-Rod housing 3/4″ Teflon-Lined FK Heim
– Heat-Treated 4140 Moly Coated Tie-Rod
– Less than HALF the toe-change of the factory tie-rod through the extended travel range