The centerlink (or relay rod) is primarily there to do nothing more than send the steering input from the pitman arm (attached to the steering box on the driver's side) over to the idler arm on the passenger side. In our case, the tie rods are also attached directly the the centerlink, which is the cause of our problems. When the tie rods take an impact from the wheels, they push up on the ends of the centerlink and cause it to "twist" up away from the idler and pitman. The more this happens, the more the non-replaceable bushings wear out making the steering loose, and causing toe-in of the suspension and tire wear. This will eventually cause the nuts on top of the tie-rod end going through the centerlink to strike the frame. If this happens when the wheel takes a load, the tie rod will bend or snap.
The 2 replacement steering systems out there remedy this two ways.
SLR remakes the centerlink with replaceable bushings, and reinforces the rest of the system.
Calmini redesigns the whole system to move the tie rod ends so they connect directly to the pitman and idler, releiving their redesigned centerlink to doing nothing more than relaying the steering input to the passenger side.
Brent
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