Tie Rod Tube Construction........Cracked?

[w30bob]

Hi Guys,

Pulled of my tie rods and disassembled and cleaned. Found what looks like a crack on one or both tubes, but am not sure how these were put together. Does anyone know if the forged ball end was pressed into the tube........or is it all supposed to be one piece? Check out the pics below. Both tubes are relatively straight and showed no signs of impact.......will blast them and maybe mag particle at work today......but would like to know what I'm supposed to be looking at. Two pieces welded, pressed, or one piece. Seems like an odd crack, as impacting something with the tie rod would make this a tension crack....yet is looks to be more of an impact crack......if it's a crack at all. The more I stare at it the more I think it was just sloppy construction.....but looking at the two side by side I can't be sure where the tube ends and the forged ball part begins. Let me know what you think.

thanks,
bob

[w30bob]

Hi Guys,

Well..........I blasted the tubes to get a better look and removed the rods as well. That actually went much better than I expected. Why they didn't grease or put anti-seize on the rods when they assembled the tractor is beyond me. But they weren't rusted together too bad and came out after a little coaxing (and minor swearing). I checked both tubes and rods for straight on a precision flat table......and after a bit of tweaking to both they are now nice and straight.

Looking closer at the crack......or suspected crack.......has me thinking they were made this way. The forged ball end seems to have been pressed into the tube and the end of the forging that goes into the tube may not have been ground round perfectly on center to fit the ID of the tube......so it looks like it sticks past the tube on one side and comes up a little short of the tube on the other. I'll grind everything nice and flush and be done with it. I'm guessing that quality control was a bit lax toward the late 70's at IH.....maybe a sign of things to come. I'll get a pic posted later of the blasted rods.

regards,
bob

[Sailor]

Is your axle adjustable?

[w30bob]

Hi Sailor,

Yup......it's adjustable. Although it's never been adjusted. Now that the tie rods have been cleaned/painted and lubed at least the tie rods will actually adjust. Here's what they looked like post blasting..........

[toehead]

I think that is one piece, and that the forged end was slightly off center when the hammer came down.

[w30bob]

Hi Toe,

There's no forging line or grinding marks on the tubes themselves......which is why I didn't think the whole shebang was one piece forged. I think forging tubes is pretty tough to do, but could be wrong. Bottom line is I think they're structurally sound, so I'm using them. They just don't look pretty naked.

thanks,
bob

[Matt Kirsch]

Definitely not pressed. You wouldn't want just friction keeping your front tires from going all caddywampus.

Looks broke to me.

[Slim140]

Definitely not pressed. You wouldn't want just friction keeping your front tires from going all caddywampus.

Looks broke to me.

I'll 2nd this.

[Cubfriend]

The ends are forged and the tubes are pressed onto the forged end and welded. tst is familiar with these as he can retube your original ball end.

[tst]

Frank is correct, the ball ends are cast and the tubing is induction welding to the end, the ball end can be machine out of the tube and new inner tie tubing installed, here you can see the old end installed in the new inner rod, has not been welded in yet or turned to the correct position in the tube, this method saves $$ and uses your old end over