Track Rod Joint - A Must Have Upgrade!!!

mikeeg02 said:

I am comparing the frame side joint, to the joint thats mounted to the axle.



The joint mounted at the frame end is a "double shear" type. Both sides of the joint itself are supported by steel. The only force the bolt provides is the "shear strength" where the joint and mount contact.



The joint mounted at the axle end is a "single shear" type. Where only one side of the joint is supported. You now rely on the tensile strength of the bolt not to stretch but the shear strength is mostly focused to the fixed side of the joint.



I must admit I am surprised to hear that that frame side joint is more expensive. But for me personally to purchase an aftermarket track bar, it would need a "double shear" type joint at both ends.



Are you willing to answer my questions about the appearance of the bolts that you have seen that have failed?

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I haven't gotten them back.

Andrews on vacation. I don't even think it's apart. While I'm curious to see its hard to say without parts in hand

I would agree, though I can't say I am surprised. Often consumers make for terrible feedback. Its unfortunate IMO that you have not received any of the broken ones back. (However few there are) Not just for the manufacturer, but for all of us because the real life failures cannot be analyzed and improved upon.

mikeeg02 said:

I would agree, though I can't say I am surprised. Often consumers make for terrible feedback. Its unfortunate IMO that you have not received any of the broken ones back. (However few there are) Not just for the manufacturer, but for all of us because the real life failures cannot be analyzed and improved upon.

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Agreed. People will get angry but refuse to help prevent a future situation for the next guy.


Andrews was supposedly torqued properly. I am leaning towards a defective bolt.

SAK had one of the very first ones of these, and I'm pretty sure he put close to 100k on it without a failure.

That dude could destroy an anvil with a feather

The way my bolt broke and Pete's both lead me to believe that the bolt itself wasn't strong enough. Mine was torqued per OUO instruction. I confirmed that. Pete's I have no idea if it was torqued properly and neither does he. If you ask my opinion, the bolt itself is to blame, not a shear strength/design question. The factory joints hold up great and they are the same design but they just wear faster over time and the material used in the OUO joint is way better than the factory one so it doesn't make sense that the design itself is to blame. I blame the bolt. Probably a bad batch

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Is it a grade 8 bolt in the kit or what exactly is it? Just kinda curious if just a stronger bolt could solve all the issues. 1 bolt can't bump the price all that much, but I have been wrong plenty of times before. Im sure there are tons of people that will never have an issue with them as well.

WHY NOT said:

Is it a grade 8 bolt in the kit or what exactly is it? Just kinda curious if just a stronger bolt could solve all the issues. 1 bolt can't bump the price all that much, but I have been wrong plenty of times before. Im sure there are tons of people that will never have an issue with them as well.

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No clue there Man. Jared would have to input on this.

Why could a bracket be made to bolt in place of the stock "ball joint" that would accept a big heim joint. It would require a new track bar with joints on both ends but should've better and last longer since the load would be more spread out with a double shear bolt in design. I have a Carli trac bar at the moment but it doesn't help if the lower joint is crap and can't get one from OUO and it's retardedly priced. I agree if it works and doesn't fail it's worth more. But seems like a supply and demand situation.

Any update on this?


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Jomax said:

Any update on this?


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Have yet to see any of that ones that have "failed" back in my hands to do a failure analysis.

Dave is in the hospital from a very serious motorcycle wreck and will probably be out of commission for 4-6 weeks.

We won't have parts to build anymore until after the first of the year, I guess when we get parts back in stock we will decide if we even want to pursue selling them.

Two more customers I've talked to who haven't had a failure told me they just ran them tight with an impact. I asked them why they didn't they our torque spec was important enough to follow. Didn't get an good answer from either customer.

Pretty funny

I certainly hope for a smooth and fast recovery for Dave. Motorcycle accidents are no Bueno. Been there.

Its really quite amazing how hard it seems to follow the directions, on something so important. Steering/axle location. The track bar did very little on the leaf sprung axles. Just helped to eliminate bump steer, wasn't even a requirement. Though on a radius arm, 3 or 4 link, (unless triangulated) it's an absolute necessity.

I wish the failures would spend the $15 on shipping to send the damn joint back. Maybe nobodies actually tightened it to the spec, Hense why they won't send it in.

Breaking Habits said:

Have yet to see any of that ones that have "failed" back in my hands to do a failure analysis.

Dave is in the hospital from a very serious motorcycle wreck and will probably be out of commission for 4-6 weeks.

We won't have parts to build anymore until after the first of the year, I guess when we get parts back in stock we will decide if we even want to pursue selling them.

Two more customers I've talked to who haven't had a failure told me they just ran them tight with an impact. I asked them why they didn't they our torque spec was important enough to follow. Didn't get an good answer from either customer.

Pretty funny

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Health is #1, I wish Dave a speedy and 100% recovery.


Kinda lame they aren't following the torque spec requirement... That's important.


And seriously, no one is sending them back? Shipping would be super cheap...


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mikeeg02 said:

I certainly hope for a smooth and fast recovery for Dave. Motorcycle accidents are no Bueno. Been there.

Its really quite amazing how hard it seems to follow the directions, on something so important. Steering/axle location. The track bar did very little on the leaf sprung axles. Just helped to eliminate bump steer, wasn't even a requirement. Though on a radius arm, 3 or 4 link, (unless triangulated) it's an absolute necessity.

I wish the failures would spend the $15 on shipping to send the damn joint back. Maybe nobodies actually tightened it to the spec, Hense why they won't send it in.

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If you take the trackbar off a leafsprung axle the axle will move the opposite direction that you are attempting to steer. At speed it would be going all over the road. How is it not necessary? Its completely necessary for straight driving and for the steering to function. In fact if you take a track bar off and its hard to get back on one of the methods for "making the hole" is to just steer as the axle will move side to side.

Putting a huge trackbar on my leafspring trucks was always a good upgrade as it took all the slack out of the steering cycle.

Not sayin' jus sayin.

TyCorr said:

If you take the trackbar off a leafsprung axle the axle will move the opposite direction that you are attempting to steer. At speed it would be going all over the road. How is it not necessary? Its completely necessary for straight driving and for the steering to function. In fact if you take a track bar off and its hard to get back on one of the methods for "making the hole" is to just steer as the axle will move side to side.

Putting a huge trackbar on my leafspring trucks was always a good upgrade as it took all the slack out of the steering cycle.

Not sayin' jus sayin.

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OBS leaf sprung straight axle trucks dont have them. Straight axle chevy's didnt have them (though they utilize a different steering arraignment)

Im not saying having one is not an improvement, because it certainly eliminates bump steer, but without one, the leaf springs locate the axle. Linked suspensions, radius arm included without triangulation leaves locating the axle from side to side up to the trac bar.

Super dutys need a track bar. The obs may have been designed without, i dont know, but the frontends of most of those trucks were bolted to the frame on either end and im not talking about the springs.

I have driven mine around recently at the farm after taking the lift off without a bar (the lifted one is longer) and it doesnt feel optional. If you hooked a trailer onto that it'd be a death ride.

Iirc, the f350 steering on an 80-97 truck is different too. Theres another component to the draglink.

mikeeg02 said:

OBS leaf sprung straight axle trucks dont have them.

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That is completely incorrect.
Maybe you're thinking of a sway bar?


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I have heard folks make that trac bar comment before on the older trucks
and I didn't understand why
but they were pretty adamant so I am not going to argue since I only have a leaf sprung GM to compare with it needs no trac bar and does fine without the sway bar also

Guys.. Sorry but OBS and Leaf spring suspension really have no bearing on a super duty track rod.. Lol

On top of that. Posting pretty much anything related to or showing XXX companies name on one of my threads isn't very cool.

My mistake, carry on..

I see they hid a trac bar on the OBS behind the axle. Went and looked at one.

how do i tell if i have this wobble? i noticed after i did a recent tire rotation that i have a bad wobble on the freeway cruising and if i goose it from a corner or going around a curve to the right and hammer it and the front end unloads a little, it shakes the entire truck. almost like the front tires are going to fall off...

live life full throttle

god bless america and the farmer who feeds your fat ass

Mine has the "death wobble", I've replaced the joint with another OEM, no difference. Front end is tight, its done it since ~30K miles. I had them put some positive caster in mine and it helped. I think OEM acceptable is +3* to 0 range. Mine IIRC is set around +3*-+3.5*. It was completely unacceptable until I finally convinced them to do that for me. Rainy roads literally took the wheel from my hands above 50 mph.

I have tried 3 sets of tires, because they originally blamed my tires. And now Im at ~110K so I have put two new sets on since. The only thing I have left to try is another set of wheels. My one has a little bit of a flat spot in it, but the truck does it whether that wheel is on the front or rear.

They also blamed my "loading" of the truck, as it has a HD front bumper with 12K winch (and I have the OEM front upgraded spring package). Utility bed on the back and the truck weighs in at 9,500. Which is a bit for a super cab short bed gasser haha.

If yours didnt do it before, Id suggest putting your tires back and see if it continues. Then check front suspension parts. All of them if you havent already. (steering linkage, ball joints, etc)

If that doesnt show any issues, I would recommend getting an alignment shop to add some caster on the front axle.

Thats all based of my experience with my truck. Your results may vary.