Sure it's toe out and not in? I thought I remember most vehicles having .5-1* of toe in. Maybe I'm thinking of camber. Idk.

 

It varies depending on a lot of factors, including rwd, fwd, awd, etc. for our discos it's definitely toe out.

 

Good to know! Thanks

 

I always set mine neutral, zero toe in or out as it will fractionally toe in under acceleration and toe out fractionally under de-acceleration/engine braking due to the flexing in the steering system and rubber bushes.

 

I ended up going with the Terrafirma HD rods and installed them late yesterday and this morning. Here are a couple observations.

First, I learned the hard way that the track rod cannot be installed with the wheels on the truck. There's just not enough clearance.

Second, the TF rods now come with castellated nuts and cotter pins, not the nylocs of old. A problem was that the holes for the cotter pins were drilled too far up the threaded shafts at all four tie rod ends. I solved the problem by adding an extra washer at each.

As someone else in another thread noted the thickness of the TF steering damper bracket meant I needed to get a new, longer bolt. An M12-1.25x70 at Lowe's was $5.38. Ouch. I tried to go with a 63¢ 1/2x3 bolt but its unthreaded shank was too big for the steering damper. It fit trough the bracket but not through the damper.

If I had not tried to shortcut the installation by not taking off the tires this would have been a relatively easy job.

Getting the drag link length just right to center the steering wheel is a bit finicky. Getting the track rod length right to preserve alignment wasn't difficult.

I'd been concerned that getting the old rods out would cause problems but a few whacks with my 5-lb mini-sledge did the trick for each of the four joints.

The old rods were overdue for replacement and I'm happy with the outcome.

 

I didn't remove my wheels when I replaced my steering bars; not sure what the difference would've been between your install and mine. Did you have trouble getting the old bars out? Might be a difference between the factory bars and the HD bars.

Metric is expensive at the box stores. You're best to go to fastenal if you have one around. Too late now, but might help the next person to come along.

I like that the TF rods have castle nuts with cotter pins. Whenever I wreck my steering rods I'm going to have to go with an upgraded set.

Glad to hear you didn't have too much trouble!

 

FYI 2 things. The TF set has cotter pins because it's using a D90/D1/RRC style rod end, which uses cotter pins instead of nyloc nuts. Secondly - The reason the rod end needs a washer is because it's the wrong size/wrong taper for a d2, which is why we like our version over the TF version.

 

That's interesting since the AB video shows the TF with nylocs. Now that you've explained the difference between the DI and DII rod ends I think that explains the difficulty I had.

The drag link was no problem. However when I tried to install the track rod there was not enough vertical clearance. Regardless of which end I first dropped into the steering knuckle the rod hit the bottom of the front diff case input when I tried to lift the rod up to drop in on the other side. It was as though the stems were too long (they were; that ties to the need for an extra washer). The additional thickness of the TF rod was also a factor.

With the wheels off I was able to "roll" the stems into the tapers from the rear in one motion, but even then just barely.

 

Are you sure you got parts for the D2? I didn't have to remove wheels when I did my steering components, and I also didn't have to get a longer bolt when I changed to a TF steering damper.

 

His steering damper would be on the track rod rather than the drag link if he had a D1 kit