Best steering tie rod replacements?

I’m headed towards a new box and linkage myself.

 

I searched but could not find the posting with the part numbers for the rings from Grainger that fit in the steering coupler. Anyone have that link?

 

Geno's has them . It's under steering shafts. Might as well order something else with the shipping. I secured mine with a hose clamp.

 

update : the moog pitman arm in the link i posted above is incorrect for a 2005 3500 4wd. this is the one that fits Moog Pitman Arm

Thuren trac bar tomorrow, bilstein damper Wednesday, alignment on Friday.

Here is what I had to do to the old one to get it off.

#ad

 

ok installed Thuren Trac Bar and the T-Style steering linkage and went to the dealer to get aligned.

T-style linkage install is easy. Getting the Pitman arm off wasnt... see above

Thuren trac ball install - did this after the T linkage install. The T linkage on the 2005 hides the trac bar bolt on the passenger side. so I had to remove the passenger side tie rod to get access to the bolt. I tightened up the bolt on the passenger side, re-attached tie rods and wheel and got a helper to help guide the driver side bolt alignment by turning the steering wheel a bit while the truck was on the ground. then I removed the wheel and tie rod on the passenger side to torque the extra large bolt to 215 ft-lbs. torqued the driver side, re-attached tie rod and wheel. Off to the dealer to get straightened out.

Tools you will need for the Thuren install not mentioned in their instruction sheet. You may already have these.

1. Crows Foot adapter for torquing the jam nut to 2000 ft-lbs
2. I ordered the larger bolts which required me to get a 16mm drill bit to drill out the holes to fit the larger bolt. Highly recommended as the stock bolt and hole had play in it. The drilling of the holes requires a right angle drill for the driver side.

Now here's the fun part.

I installed the T-style link, stock trac bar, with the front end not aligned, but close to stock as I marked the wheel hubs / u joints before removing the Y linkage. Decided to go for a drive. went over some very smooth rail road tracks at 40 mph and BAM! Death Wobble! I experienced this once on my 2nd gen so knew what was going on right away. just put on hazards and applied the brakes gently to slow down. did not fight the steering wheel.

so after the Thuren trac bar install and getting the truck aligned to Thuren Specs i went over the same tracks at 45 MPH. and BAM! Nothing! Phew.

 

Once you get the Toe in set right your Death wobble should be cured. Providing your ball joints are good.

 

yeah EDankievitch never had death wobble on this truck before, even with bad tie rods @ 90K miles. I'm happy with my setup now