Bronco Tie Rod Failures: Rarity or Looming Problem?

My wallet is ready to buy upgraded Ford Performance tie rods when they become available. For now, I purchased two replacement sets as a backup in case I snap one on the trail.

Our mods (wheels, 37s, 3 inch coilover lift) were all installed August 2021 before tie rod breaking was a known issue. As a result + how hard it is to get parts we've kept our offroading very tame. For now. Either going to do full steering upgrade through Ford Performance or Broncbuster. Waiting to see what Ford Performance says then making our move to upgrade steering asap.

I bought my Bronco for primary off road use. I have upgraded suspension and to a heavy wheels and tires(35” Boggers) Upgrade the steering via aftermarket parts. Would love to buy the improved rack and tie rods. Current cary a spare rack ($1800) just in case, but haven’t broke a thing.

Laura

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Adding aftermarket performance parts without upgrading the surrounding vehicle underpinnings means risking failures at the weakest unchanged point. It’s basic reliability engineering. In the case of the Ford Bronco, some owners have upgraded to heavier wheels or larger tires without toughening up the stock steering system. That leaves the stock tie rods as the exposed element.

Result: We’ve seen some examples of tie rod failure when rock-stomping some difficult off-road trails or challenges.

Read the full article, and tell us what you think. Have you increased your tire size or wheel weight? Will you try to get the Ford Performance severe-duty steering rack and tie rods?

I'll say, that snapping of the tie rod in the video WILL make you wince.

You're asking me what I think? you know that can be dangerous. :p
Upgrading components is part of modifying a 4x4.People with experience know this, newbies are unaware that one change involves other changes.
I owned a machine shop for 30 years and was approached all the time by people looking to modify or repair some thing they screwed up, people create their own problems by being rough with their offroader.Seen some bizarre carnage.
I would look at the rack, tie rods , knuckles, bolts and gears if putting on bigger tires or doing serious offroad.

Laura

View attachment 38915

Adding aftermarket performance parts without upgrading the surrounding vehicle underpinnings means risking failures at the weakest unchanged point. It’s basic reliability engineering. In the case of the Ford Bronco, some owners have upgraded to heavier wheels or larger tires without toughening up the stock steering system. That leaves the stock tie rods as the exposed element.

Result: We’ve seen some examples of tie rod failure when rock-stomping some difficult off-road trails or challenges.

Read the full article, and tell us what you think. Have you increased your tire size or wheel weight? Will you try to get the Ford Performance severe-duty steering rack and tie rods?

I'll say, that snapping of the tie rod in the video WILL make you wince.

Most gear heads know this. They learned it the hard way.

I like the idea of getting a HOSS 3.0 equipped Wildtrak. It's a great package that inspires confidence. However, I prefer some of the features in the Badlands package that I ordered. I'll simply modify my Bronco to handle increased performance demands. I would perform these mods regardless of whether I increased tire size or ride height. I would rather be over prepared than under prepared. Given my circumstances, I'm going to have plenty of time to consider my upgrade options. Plenty of time...

And that one video of the tie rod snapping was painful to watch. Talk about instantaneous immobility! :cry:

Bronco Tie Rod Failures: People not knowing how to wheel or being too hard on their Bronco.......News at 11?!

Youtube is the way...... To see peeps doing some nonsense to their B's! Hey, not saying its bad but who's to blame.....or is the excuse to blame?! Hmmmm :unsure:

I'm thinking Ford should offer the OG WT owners some love when the new upgraded Ford Performance parts become available, as we did not have the opportunity to upgrade to the HOSS 3.0 at the time.

Since no one asked for my opinion, I will provide it anyway. :)

Bronco Tie-Rods are adventure fuses. A lesson I learned the hard way with my old CJ, is to think about the weakest link in whatever system you are putting under stress and make sure it is one that is relatively cheap, easy to get to, and not a bear to fix. Things are going to break off-road, and no system is one hundred percent bullet proof. If you upgrade the cheap and easy parts, then maybe that weak link shifts to something that's expensive and had to repair. Given the choice, I would much rather swap out a broken tie rod than a busted steering rack. I am not saying that I wouldn't upgrade stuff (Far from it, busted gear is just the good Lord's way of saying its time to upgrade), but folks need to be smart about how they go about it and think about it as a total system. A stouter tie rod might shift that risk to something else. Might not too, but it could and I recommend you think about it before you start bolting on a bunch of stuff without a plan for the whole set up.

I also think its worthwhile to carry a couple extra "consumable" parts (and for the Bronco that probably includes tie rods) and figure out how to swap them out before I went out for a rough day in the dirt.

Mal

Since no one asked for my opinion, I will provide it anyway. :)

Bronco Tie-Rods are adventure fuses. A lesson I learned the hard way with my old CJ, is to think about the weakest link in whatever system you are putting under stress and make sure it is one that is relatively cheap, easy to get to, and not a bear to fix. Things are going to break off-road, and no system is one hundred percent bullet proof. If you upgrade the cheap and easy parts, then maybe that weak link shifts to something that's expensive and had to repair. Given the choice, I would much rather swap out a broken tie rod than a busted steering rack. I am not saying that I wouldn't upgrade stuff (Far from it, busted gear is just the good Lord's way of saying its time to upgrade), but folks need to be smart about how they go about it and think about it as a total system. A stouter tie rod might shift that risk to something else. Might not too, but it could and I recommend you think about it before you start bolting on a bunch of stuff without a plan for the whole set up.

I also think its worthwhile to carry a couple extra "consumable" parts (and for the Bronco that probably includes tie rods) and figure out how to swap them out before I went out for a rough day in the dirt.

It gets to a point where you might as well start with a tube frame and build a dedicated off road machine sometimes it's cheaper when you add up axles, steering, suspension, frame, body mods.this is all before engine and tranny

From what I've seen and gathered, I've yet to see a stock bronco in any configuration break a tie rod or steering rack. Lifted and larger tires every time. I've also noticed that a lot of folks are "rock hopping and ramming" rather than rock crawling lol.

I dont plan on "Rock crawling" but having a tierod failure isnt just a problem for crawling. Wheel hop in general can expose a weakness in the system. To that end i started with tierod sleeves from brocbuster. Thier easy to install and should last for anything i get into.

Have the HOSS 3.0 equipped wildtrak. So already paid for the upgrade quite dearly. Not worried at this point. Only time will tell.

Good article Laura. However I've seen a video of a stock squatch truck doing a slow and controlled climb blow the steering rack/tierod. No mods. It was not "beating on the truck" nor overly complicated.

L.R.

LoneRanger

Good article Laura. However I've seen a video of a stock squatch truck doing a slow and controlled climb blow the steering rack/tierod. No mods. It was not "beating on the truck" nor overly complicated.

L.R.

I do wish our author was able to touch on that situation a little more (straight stock, trained driver).

Mal

Since no one asked for my opinion, I will provide it anyway. :)

Bronco Tie-Rods are adventure fuses. A lesson I learned the hard way with my old CJ, is to think about the weakest link in whatever system you are putting under stress and make sure it is one that is relatively cheap, easy to get to, and not a bear to fix. Things are going to break off-road, and no system is one hundred percent bullet proof. If you upgrade the cheap and easy parts, then maybe that weak link shifts to something that's expensive and had to repair. Given the choice, I would much rather swap out a broken tie rod than a busted steering rack. I am not saying that I wouldn't upgrade stuff (Far from it, busted gear is just the good Lord's way of saying its time to upgrade), but folks need to be smart about how they go about it and think about it as a total system. A stouter tie rod might shift that risk to something else. Might not too, but it could and I recommend you think about it before you start bolting on a bunch of stuff without a plan for the whole set up.

I also think its worthwhile to carry a couple extra "consumable" parts (and for the Bronco that probably includes tie rods) and figure out how to swap them out before I went out for a rough day in the dirt.

This is a very wise & logical way of looking at this. I appreciate this as a guy with 27 years in the construction, maintenance and mechanical trades. Over engineering can lead to some more serious problems if you don’t evaluate the entire system. The weakest link will usually break first. Many times these weak links are very difficult and expensive to repair due to over engineering and lack of thought in the design process. Excellent post.

LoneRanger

Good article Laura. However I've seen a video of a stock squatch truck doing a slow and controlled climb blow the steering rack/tierod. No mods. It was not "beating on the truck" nor overly complicated.

L.R.

Do you have a link to the video? I have a theory about the forces of gyroscopic precedence on tie rods and I want to see if this incident fits the theory.

Does anyone have an actual soup-to-nuts comparison of the wildtraks updated steering rack and tierods vs the rest of the model line? When looking at pictures online, they weren't obviously different

FourWheelKyle

Does anyone have an actual soup-to-nuts comparison of the wildtraks updated steering rack and tierods vs the rest of the model line? When looking at pictures online, they weren't obviously different

I haven't seen the components off the vehicle anywhere yet, so right now we're going off written word and those pics. Article here for those who want to look again.