Well title says it all. Do i need the stabilizer/damper on the steering? My new tie rod isnt swedged in the right spot, and i REALLY done feel like taking it back apart. The u bolts wont fit over the tie rod, they only fit where it is swedged and they did it 90 degrees off so the bracket has to go parallel to the ground to go on. Doesnt really work because of the angle of the mount on the plate for the shock. Plus its old and rusty. Id rather just take it off if i dont need it.

 

Your post reads like this to me:

" I assembled my steering incorrectly and have left over parts but I am to lazy to redo do it correctly "

somebody please tell me it will be ok.

 

To that I say. Either do the job correctly and replace the worn out, rusty, incorrect parts and reassembly correctly or pay a professional to do the work.

these are 9000 pound trucks, not your kids Lego set. Leftover parts are not acceptable

 

I was going to say something like this last night when I saw it but after two glasses of wine it didn't feel right.

Pirate is right. Grown-ups don't take shortcuts like this when assembling the steering system of an 8000 lb truck. Do it right or pay someone competent to do it for you.

 

I had the original Ford steering stabilizer until 120K miles. I'm pretty sure the last 60,000 miles it was useless as a stabilizer. I'd drive it without one until you get the motivation to get a correctly sized u bolt or other work around.

 

Wow, i guess no one read the op, there are no parts left over. The moog tie rod is swedged in the wrong location. It is not my error, and it is properly installed, greased, torqued, and pinned. The steering is safe, much safer than it was before i replaced the old broken one. I have had lots of heavy vehicles, and i have driven fire trucks for the last 8 years, and this is the only thing i have ever owned or driven with a steering stabilizer...thats why i am questioning its necessity.

 

Apologies for the offense. But what does "swedged" mean? I took it to mean kludged together, improperly installed, or half-assed. Clearly you meant something different.

 

then em put the steering stabilizer on.

 

the right outer tie rod (the longest biggest one) is 2 pieces, they fit together and a big machine swedges tge two pieces together. It is basically a crimp that locks the two pieces together. The tie rod is also "crimped" in the same manor, but 90 degrees off from the other. The crimps are to allow the u-bolts to go over the tie rod. Ill post a picture in a minute

 

This is the old one. Notice how the grooves arent all lined up down the tie rod.

the new one is grooved on the same side all the way down

 

Well, i fixed it. I ended up fabbing up some slightly larger u-bolts.

thanks for the...er...help?

 

In all honesty AF, I'm still unclear on what your situation was, who all worked on it, and what exactly wasn't right. I too had the same kind of...reaction. I was thinking you just threw things back together in a manner "kind of like" how it was supposed to go.

Either way, glad you got 'er fixed and back up to snuff.

Stewart

 

Me too. Just so no one thinks I am some sort of shade tree mechanic (which is how the first part of this thread reads lol) Ill try to explain a little bit more. In the picture above, there are 7 "grooves" in the tie rod. Starting at the top of the picture, there are 3. These 3 "grooves" are the swedge joint that secures the two pieces of the tie rod end together. Not sure why it is two pieces, there have been a few threads about welding the joint to make it stronger or finding a single piece tie rod. The first is a bad idea, the second doesn't exist. Anywho... the first three "grooves" are in the top red circle on the picture. The bottom red circle has 2 pairs of grooves that are offset 90 degrees from the grooves that hold the tie rod together. These grooves are for the U-bolts that hold the steering stabilizer bracket on to the tie rod.
I don't have a picture of the new Moog tie rod that I just installed, however the 2 pairs of grooves meant for the U-bolts are not offset 90 degrees like in the picture of the factory tie rod above. The Moog rod has all 7 of the grooves on the same "face" of the tie rod.
The problem was that the U-bolts are not big enough to go around the tie rod where it is round, they are only big enough to go around the tie rod if the legs of the U-bolt fit in the grooves in the rod. With the old tie rod, the grooves were parallel to the ground which is correct, since the proper orientation for the bracket is perpendicular to the ground. On the new tie rod end, the grooves were perpendicular to the ground, meaning that the bracket could only be installed parallel to the ground, which won't work because of the way that the shock mounts to the bracket.
I hope that this makes it a little more clear maybe?

 

FWIW I understand what you're saying afmedic, and some larger u-bolts is probably the only solution to keep the stabilizer.

Were you able at all to set the u bolts in the swedge crimp or is it just clamped on smooth tube now?

 

Funny, I nearly typed up the same thing b/c you were getting undue static but then figured I didn't want to add insult to injury by explaining things as if you couldn't.