home made tie rods

I have searched many sites and forums to see how hard it would be to do this and it doesn't seem that complicated. Has anyone made their own? I was thinking about trying this but wanted to get some opinions before I start buying parts. If you have, what have you used for the rod and/or adjuster? DOM, Stainless...? What did you use for rod ends? TRE, Heim, Johnny Joints...? Did you base your design on the stock tie rods, where the TRA was inside the TRE or did you use a rod end with threads and use a solid rod? The latter seems stronger than the stock design. Lastly, did you stick with single shear or were you able to make some kind of bracket for double shear? Double shear seems rather impossible with the given space and movement geometry but it sure would be cool.

I know I could just buy this stuff from TC or Calmini but their prices are way outta my league right now.

4x rod ends, heim, JJ's = about $30 a piece, $120
4x nuts for adjustment = $2
3' of DOM cut in half = $? (guessing on length)
Find a drill press, metal lathe, whatever... tap $?

What am I missing here?


I was thinking about using parts from these cats if possible.

bullet proof

The tie-rods don't break because they are to weak. They break when the centerlink rotates upwards pushing the bolt on the tie-rod into the frame. If you look at your frame were the tie-rod passes, you will see gouges in your frame. You need to prevent the bolt from rotating into the frame. Before there was a steering kit to fix the problem, I made a guide that slid on the frame and was mounted to the centerlink. It didn't stop the centerlink from wearing out but I never busted a tie-rod after. But when the Calmini kit came out, went with that and only broke one idler arm bracket.

What Calmini steering kit are you referring to? The $599 one?

Yes, he is.