Might have been a special order item. Or someone gave a good deal on defective parts!
Otherwise I'll confirm what James said, that every one I ever saw or sold was already tapered. Correctly for the steering stabilizer, but not always for the steering system, depending on the orientation, as you noted.
Because it was never intended as a draglink mounting point, most of them neck down a bit there and are prone to bending right at that spot.
Many members here say they've never had a problem with that, but I know of many more that found bent rod ends after a hard trail ride. Friend Jerry's bent on his first outing after changing over to this style linkage many years ago.
It's pretty bullet-proof, but apparently not fully bomb-proof!
Speaking of tapers and angles though, James, what would it take to "twist" these things to mimic the factory angle of a Ford draglink? And would it be safe, or would it weaken the part? Are they forged, or cast, or what?
I've always been curious about that, because I've always tried to reduce tie-rod roll whenever possible. So far I've not found an off-the-shelf factory replacement part with the proper angle.
Thanks
Paul
Well, I don't want to get Morgan mad at me, but yeah.
There are a couple of vendors out there that create their own lingo for what they wish the part would be. And then there are vendors that are big enough to create their own part numbers...and over time those part numbers become unicorns. Ruffstuff and WFO order enough of them that they can get a Moog ES2027L in a 7/8 Right hand thread configuration, and call it an "ES2027R" which does not exist, and is used on no factory application. Moog does not list it in their catalog. There are no drawing, specifications, or OEM applications. But I will guarantee you that EVERYONE at Ruffstuff knows exactly what an ES2027R is. Google will tell you exactly what it is. (But it isn't...)
Now lets talk about "1-ton" tie rods ends. There is no such thing. This language is a direct result of the General Motor 1969 to 1987 K series trucks. (or 69-90, or 69-92, or 73-87) It all depends on whether you want disc brakes, and if it's a K20, or a K30, or a K30 crew cab. Whatever. It's the solid front Axle Dana 44, Corporate 10 bolt, or Dana 60. They ALL used a tie rod, with low angle, small end balls, and they used a drag link, with high misalignment angle, bigger ball ends. The tie rod on a Chevy 1 ton K30 with a Dana 60 is always about 4 feet long. So nobody ever actually uses a "GM 1-ton TRE." But the GM 1 ton Tie Rod End DOES have a standard taper. Mercifully, it is exactly the same taper as the drag link, AND the same taper as Dodge. So you can use a GM left hand tie rod end with the extra hole for the stabilizer, along with a DODGE right hand TRE, and install it backwards and use it for crossover steering. Or you can intall it upside down and backward, and use it for Tie Rod Over, high-steer crossover steering.
So we need to talk about three things. Vertical angle, (or drop angle) vs Flop angle (twist) vs flop location.
In a perfect world, there would be a distinction made between a Tie Rod End (TRE) and a Drag Link End (DRE). (And yeah, I'm making up my own lingo, at the risk of triggering
@ntsqd ) That being said, there are many applications where a DRE is used as a TRE. Pretty much every IFS front end. The distinction being that a Drag Link End has a very high allowable angle in the vertical plane, and a Tie Rod End has a very small allowable angle. The less the allowable angle, the smaller and lighter the ball socket can be. This language is a direct result of the General Motors 1969 to 1987 K series trucks. It's all the solid front Axle Dana 44, Corporate 10 bolt, or Dana 60. They ALL used a tie rod, with low angle, anti-flop balls, and they used a drag link, with high angle, bigger ball ends. The drag link on a GM K-truck is a turnbuckle with a L-R threaded sleeve made for high misalignment.
Back in the 1980s, before selectable lockers became available...the off road community figured out that you need articulation to keep the wheels in contact with the granite to maintain forward traction. So every idiot with a toolbox and a hammer started putting soft, flexy springs in their Jeep / Toyota. The Flat YJ leaf, and by 1988 the long 63 inch Chevy leafs were very popular. Axle articulation and Ramp Travel Index (RTI) became a "flex." You might see upwards of 16 inches of wheel travel as if it were a good thing. Fast forward to the ARB air locker, and that pretty much nullified all of that nonsense. But there was money to be made in aftermarket suspension travel. And money to be saved if you could get that travel without snapping steering components. And off road race trucks had lots of wheel travel. So for a while, every off-roader carried an extra tie rod.
Well, all that travel comes with a limit. So Drag links needed to get longer. So the popular solution was to solid axle swap your Chevy, or Toyota...and use a Drag link end at your pitman arm, and a Left side Chevy tie rod end with the stabilizer hole on the right side.
@DirtDonk The whole point of having a horizontal ball attachment was to allow unlimited articulation without snapping the socket off the ball. This worked GREAT, until someone figured out that a horizontal stud in a tie rod results in a moment applied at the drag link. Force times radius results in torque. All of that torque resulted in "flop." So one way to eliminate flop is to put the drag link ball in the exact same plane as the tie rod balls. Imagine a giant sheet of cardboard, going thru the tie rod end balls, AND thru the pitman arm drag link ball. If you can get your passenger side drag link stud in that same plane, it will eliminate flop. Ford figured this out in 1966 with the Bronco. That's why the drag link on a Bronco is at that weird angle. Dodge figured it out by adding a small rubber encased donut on the tie rod end. Later Ford figured it out better by running the drag link directly to the knuckle. And later, Jeep copied Ford. Toyota went IFS, and GM became irrelevant.
Now, if you wanted to change the pin angle of the FORGED tie rod end ES2233L, you could certainly heat the forging, and twist it. If you heated it cherry red, and quenched it slowly, it would be fine. Problem is that if you heat it hot enough to twist it, you will destroy the ball socket, and set it on fire. And most people don't know how to anneal a hot forging...so probably best if you don't. If you want to eliminate the flop, use the Dodge driver's side TRE, and find an anti-flop bushing with the two thin cup washers and the rubber insulator.
Or you can do what everybodyd else does, and buy the Reid flat-top knuckle and run a high steer arm. Of course you can run Chevy/Wagoneer flat tops, but they are all 6 bolt, and you will never get an RCV ball in that stupid spindle hole.
Oh, and remember that you ALWAYS want a high misalignment ball on the pitman arm side. I'll see if I can post the pic of the Heim from another thread. You can see that the joint is ready to bind, and the first time the passenger side drops into a hole, that heim stud will snap right off. (or it might just act as a very expensive limit strap...) Gotta go now.
Pic copied from
@the74bronco thread. Note how the heim at the pitman arm is out of down travel. When they break off, it is really scary and noisy. Scary, because you can't steer, and noisy because the driver is screaming so loud.
