fabtech tie rods

[Boss Hoss]

Many stock rigs run the Fabtech tie rods. Back in the day when the site was full of people who wheeled their rig, most upgraded to the Fabtechs. I have been running the Fabtechs personally with 0 problems. In fact if you wheel i feel they are necessary.

[RippSpeed]

Originally Posted by Boss Hoss

Many stock rigs run the Fabtech tie rods. Back in the day when the site was full of people who wheeled their rig, most upgraded to the Fabtechs. I have been running the Fabtechs personally with 0 problems. In fact if you wheel i feel they are necessary.

but will they work with leveling kits ??? I think they should

[OrangeCrush]

Better hope they work. I just received a set last week that I haven't installed. I only have the Truxx kit on mine right now.

I used these same tierod ends on my lifted H2 and had no problems with them. To me, it's a first mod kind of thing.

BTW, if you do want to buy them, you can find them for 35 bucks cheaper on ebay. I only paid 249.


Mark

[splne1]

You have to purchase a sway bar extension from what I read on the ebay auctions. It tends to have a possibility to rub on the sway bar.

[Cesardajr]

I have the fab tech tie rods with the ready lift kit which is the same as the truxx kit and the green key kit and they work fine.
i do not have a swar bar extension and i have had zero problems for 2 years 4 months.

[tomp]

Fabtech states this because there is risk under a binded steering position, that the large inner tie rod joint can bind against the sway bar. When there is stress on the centerlink, the curved ends tend to cause the centerlink to twist upward due to geometry of this curve in the centerlink. To control this "twisting of the centerlink" (which also causes premature wear of the pitman/idler arms, I might add) the Cognito Pitman/Idler support kit is highly recommended. This Cognito kit will actually keep stock tie rods from breaking so easy due to the nature of it controlling the centerlink from twisting - which in turn keeps the tie rods from getting into a binded position. I suggest this kit even before upgrading to HD tie rods!

Once you have both kits (HD tie rods and Cognito P/I arm kit), the next best thing to do is to get the Cognito OEM length sway bar end links. They are called OEM length, but are 1" taller then the OEM links, which allows more clearance between the HD tie rods' inner joint and sway bar.

The other good thing about their end links is they incorporate a swivel link for the lower control arm. This is perfect for those with the Truxx kit or any other scenario of cranked torsion bars. When you crank the TBs with any of the methods out there, the lower control arms are now at a more severe angle and the sway bar link geometry is now "off". This swivel corrects the geometry to compensate for the cranked up torsion bars. They are also better quality and more HD than the OEM links. Very good mod for the price!

[SummitUp]

The reason Fabtech won't endorse their tie rods for H2's is because the inner rubber boot will only clear the sway bar by about 1/8 inch in a full lock turn. The boot can actually be torn when turning hard while off-roading. Dozens of H2 owners run Fabtech's with no problems however.

This pic tells the story:


The cure for this situation is to replace the sway bar links with Cognito sway bar links. They're longer than OEM and will give about 3/4" clearance:


Interesting thread on Fabtech vs. Cognito tie rods <Here>.

[SummitUp]

Dang it Tom! You beat me to it!