Tie Rod End replacement

[JonM934]

The boots on my tie rod ends were completely falling apart and even though the Tie Rod Ends were tight, I thought I should replace the whole thing. So I set out to replace all 4 tie rod ends. I found out quickly that the ones listed in the parts list, the commercial equivalents were not exactly the correct parts. Here are two that crossed to the civilian number.



They are too long in both directions. I mean these are threaded in two places and both of the threaded parts are too long for a good fit on our trucks.



I had a lot of trouble trying to loosen these to get them out. For a couple of weeks, I sprayed about a gallon of Liquid Wrench in these parts trying to get them to free up.



After I got the nut and the rod to turn, then I needed to break the part free from the truck. I tried everything and finally used two axle separators to break it apart. Note how the two tools are stacked on one another so I can get enough height to force it apart.

I tried to upload a photo but it did not work.

 

[JonM934]

So the photo I was uploading was from my new phone and it was 100mp. I guess that is too big to be uploaded. So here is a smaller version showing the tools I used.



I thought about replacing just the boots, they are available from the military and I found one on eBay.



Here is the boot itself. The ridges on the boot fit into valleys on the Tie Rod End and then the two round springs go on to keep the boot in place.



I am glad that I did not replace just the boots because I destroyed a couple of the Tie Rod Ends getting them out.

In the end, I had to get the actual military Tie Rod Ends on eBay to get then to fit on the truck properly.

 

[NathanKeehn]

can you send the NSN or info on where to get the boots... currently need a bunch of them.

 

[IridiumRed]

Id like info on where to get boots as well / what NSN, etc. I have a bunch that need replacing too. im -betting- there is civilian application with boots that would work, just knowing WHAT that application is / what the boots are and how to get them... thats the hard part

 

[DeMilitarized]

I have a supplier for the boots. PM me and I can get a bulk order in.

 

[IridiumRed]

How many boots are on an MTVR? Seems like almost all of my boots are shot. I'll send ya PM

 

[DeMilitarized]

How many boots are on an MTVR? Seems like almost all of my boots are shot. I'll send ya PM

22 I last counted.

 

[IridiumRed]

Its certainly a lot more then you'd think.... until you crawl under one of these trucks! tie rods EVERYWHERE. Not complaining too much though, its the nature of the beast having independent suspension axles... which i think are one of the coolest things on the trucks (well, 7ton axles with lockers are the coolest parts to me, I would have been delighted with ANY axles with that setup from factory, compared to the nightmare of trying to get selectable lockers on 5ton axles....ie, going firetruck route....)

 

[JonM934]

My source is in Europe so the shipping is more than the parts unless you order like 10+. The company is Polyboots.com and the part number is 28-48-31-1. They are very high quality. I made a video about it if you want to see what they look like.

 

[IridiumRed]

My source is in Europe so the shipping is more than the parts unless you order like 10+. The company is Polyboots.com and the part number is 28-48-31-1. They are very high quality. I made a video about it if you want to see what they look like.

Very interesting. Course, i just told someone i'd take 30 (full truck + spares, dont want to have to dick around with this issue again for long time).

I dont suppose they do balljoint boots? Thats one big open item for me... seems like a bunch of mine are shot

 

[fukiphino]

Nice job! Saw your Utah shirt and realized you're just south of me. If you ever need a hand let me know. Would be cool to get our MTVR's together once I get my coolant leak fixed.

 

[aw113sgte]

Very interesting. Course, i just told someone i'd take 30 (full truck + spares, dont want to have to dick around with this issue again for long time).

I dont suppose they do balljoint boots? Thats one big open item for me... seems like a bunch of mine are shot

You can find the large balljoint boots, Google search. Oshkosh pn 3388047

 

[aw113sgte]

I have a supplier for the boots. PM me and I can get a bulk order in.

Can you share pn/supplier?
I haven't found the Oshkosh boot pn yet.

 

[IridiumRed]

You can find the large balljoint boots, Google search. Oshkosh pn 3388047

Thanks for reminding me, I had searched a lot before, found a few but not enough.

I dont have the truck in front of me at the moment (its at shop), are the balljoint boots different on top & bottom or from one axle to another?