Reason for the post is I'm rebuilding my chassis for street/ mild trail. Have a stock trac bar and a lightly used 2 point adjustable Tom's T style linkage i was going to clean up, paint and reuse.
Other than shiny new parts with DOM tube, new fangled heims/spherical ends and a $600+ investment.... what's the point? Why is this newish style so popular or even the "1 ton" conversion. If I'm looking at my knuckles, the part that this all attaches to seems to be the weak point. If anything will break I feel that the connecting arm is what will fail since it's a cast part.
Tie rod ends are easily replaced and greasable, etc. What fails on the stock style? Is it the actual steel? Sure it might get bent if smashed on a rock but wouldn't DOM tube?
"Tell me a story of a failed stock or updated stock vendor supplied steering linkage"
So you ask for one thing in you title, then ask a different question in the post.
So I'll answer the question I think you are asking, and tell you a story about every stock bronco steering ever built.
The problem with the Early Bronco steering is fundamental. The length of the track bar requires a corresponding length drag link to maintain geometry during suspension cycling. Which means that the drag link is "short." The short drag link is connected to the tie rod out in the middle. This means that the drag link applies a VERTICAL load on the tie rod whenever force is applied. The more steep the angle, the more vertical force is applied. If you wanted to invent a way to intentionally bend your tie rod, you would attach the drag link to the middle, and angle it as steep as possible. So yes, EVERYBODY has a story about how their EB tie rod bent. Because if you lift an EB and add power steering...the factory tie rod bends. All of them, every time. And they are enormous already. Factory Ford Bronco tie rods are about twice the size of a comparable Jeep Wrangler, and equivalent to a 3/4 ton tie rod. But since they are loaded "wrong", the actual steel bends. This cannot be fixed by increasing the size of the tie rod end.
The $600 fancy heim rod solution INCLUDES the benefit of relocating the drag link location toward the knuckle. (The inverted Y, also moves the pivot location to the knuckle.) The 1 ton TRE solution also moves the pivot toward the knuckle. This GREATLY reduces the vertical load on the tie rod, AND it moves the load away from the middle of the tie rod. You get a length cubed effect on bending based on the distance from the knuckle. So the vast majority of the reduction in bending stress comes from moving the pivot.
Rest assured, the polished DOM, the expensive rod ends, and the fancy knuckles don't do crap. You could achieve the same effect with some rigid conduit, a Toyota Camry tie rod end, and a welder.
So anyone that moves the drag link to the knuckle pays the price of bump steer. The less horizontal the drag link, the more bump steer.
But how do you get the drag link to connect to the knuckle for cheap? Well, a high steer arm works...but unfortunately that requires a new knuckle, and those aren't cheap. But you CAN use a GM 1 ton TRE with a lateral hole in the side, to get close. And thus the "GM 1 ton TRE" crossover steering was born. You don't need DOM, you can use HREW, and you don't need super thick wall since 1/8 wall is plenty. The whole kit costs about $200 if you source it wisely. But you do need a tapered reamer...and Tie Rod Over starts to look attractive at about 3 inches of lift.
Now if you are bending your tie rod because you hit something...that's a totally different failure mode.
I hope that answers your question.
