Can Tie Rods be Powder coated?

[Mori]

Wondering if sand blasting and powder coating will be ok for a tie rods. Or if painting is the better way to go.

 

[ame]

Powder coating needs to be heated to cure so any plastic or rubber will melt, also sandblasting will likely get blasting media into the joint. I would ruff up the surface and paint it.

 

[DirtDonk]

Agreee with ame. Our particular tie-rods can probably be coated from the physical aspects, but it's still probably not a good idea like ame was saying.
1. You would not want to sand blast the ends and would need to seal them off so no grit gets into the socket.
2. Any residual grease already in the socket can come out or at least off-gas under the high heat and ruin the powder coating process at least in that local area, if not further out.
3. I don't think any of ours have teflon liners in the socket, but some sort of anti-wear material like teflon is still a possibility. They do it in a lot of car applications, but not sure they would do it in the heavier truck applications due to premature wear under heavy use. If anything other than metal is in there, it's not going to like the high heat any more than the grease would.

At roughly 400° curing heat for 20-40 minutes, any of those things can rear their ugly heads and ruin your nice coating job. Or your parts!
So I would agree, just scuff, clean and paint.
Besides, it's easier to touch up that way too. The tie-rod takes a real beating when driving sometimes.

If you're sure there is no lining, and you've got a guy willing to experiment with your stuff for free, then there's nothing lost if it does not come out perfectly and you can sand it down and touch it up. Just seems like a lot of work, and a lot of expense if you don't have a cheap method.
I'm pretty sure others have coated theirs, but I'd still say all of those warnings above are valid.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

If you were adamant about powder coating, I suppose there are steps you could take to help ensure a decent job.
I would take the Zerk fitting out of the end, flush as much grease out of the assembly as you can with some solvent, blow it out to dry it off, verify that there is no liner material other than metal, then do a full pre-heat to be sure to evaporate any residual contaminants. Then do the powder coating job.

In fact, on heavy metal bits like a tie-rod it's not a bad idea to preheat it anyway. Even if you're not trying to rid it of contaminants.

Paul

 

[Mori]

Great tips. I had not thought of the blast media potentially filtering into the joint which I imagine would reek havoc in the long run. Thanks for the responses.

 

[gnpenning]

Glad you changed your mind.

If you plan on coating something you are unsure about the outcome or anything else you are wondering about, use the old part as a practice run. Of course this is generally only feasible if you do your own powder coating.

 

[pcf_mark]

The grease flowing out of the joint will be the biggest challenge. The heat may or may not hurt the liner but the grease will flow like water out of the joint wrecking the power coat while baking.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Heim joint steering, no problem. Take the joints off, protect the threads, go for it. Might need to think again if aluminum, some of that heat treated stuff might get wonky in the oven. No issues with steel.

Regular tie rods, crimped together ball and socket, rubber boots, grease, male threads. That isn't the best idea. I know it can be done. Back in the day people would get the steering linkage chromed. Not sure how it was done, but it was done. I would just paint. Between scrapes and stone chips powder coat isn't that resilient.