Loose torque nuts on Teraflex tie rod

[BerryL]

Hi all

I had an alignment done at a Jeep service, which ended up with the steering pulling to the right when 'centred' and tie in set at 7.5mm.

I took it to my local garage on Friday and they adjusted the thrust, aligned steering and set toe in at 2mm.

I noticed a clunking noise yesterday and investigated and found out that both torque nuts on the teraflex tie rod were loose. I've tightened them up and drove down my street and it seems ok.

My question is could the toe have changed as a result of the loose nuts? The steering stabiliser is attached so not sure it could have moved? I'm not overly keen to take it back a third time but will do if it could have moved and needs realigning!

Cheers

Liam

[Kiteman]

I know this is old but did you find out why the lock nuts came loose? I have only recently fitted a Terafex tie bar and on a trip over some soft sand this week found both the lock nuts had really come completely undone! I mean there was 10mm of thread between the nuts and the bar each end!. I tightened the best I could with what tools I had but after driving some corrugated roads same day I found they had loosened again! Really don’t know what’s going on?

[Classic Boy]

I had a similar problem on an old 1990’s live axle hilux whereby the lock not on the front axle adjustable torque rod would undo itself all the time. I eventually resolved it by using a significantly higher torque with some locktite on the lock nut, years later it has not moved again.

[Kiteman]

Which Locktite did you use? Red?
I have the BIG spanners required for torquing them up now and plan on cleaning up the nut and rod surfaces so they are completely dry, there is some grease around from the thread into the rod that may be “helping” the loosening process.

Also……I had to fit the Terafex steering stabiliser, so some thing is destroying the plastic dust cap on it? I have turned the steering lock to lock watching to see if it fouls on anything but nothing is touching. Albeit with both wheels on level ground… I think it may be when the suspension is flexing that the damage is being caused.
I still have the stock drag link type, it’s very close to the cap but does not touch on level ground. I do not have any lift installed, all stock height. I’ll try and get some photos today.

[Kiteman]

Hi All
I think I have found the culprit as far as the dust boot damage.. and possibly the cause of the loosening tie bar.
The panhard rod! there were marks on the panhard indicating the angle of the damper securing bolt (to the tie bar) was possibly hitting it on full lock effectively turning the bar and releasing it from the jam nuts possibly when there is a bit of flexing going on.

[Classic Boy]

I used the green loktite as it’s what I had handy at the time.