Tie rod question
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 294
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From: Easton pennsylvania
Tie rod question
Just want to confirm that BOTH outer tie rods and standard Right Hand thread, making the inners left Hand Thread. Thus making the direction to rotate the tubes to shorten them different.
Is that correct?
Just double checking because it seems that either mine were on backwards OR I was shipped the wrong part..
I think RockAuto has them listed wrong, because if this is so, then both outers should be the same part No. But they have Front Right Inner and Front Left Outer listed as the same part No..
Thanks
Is that correct?
Just double checking because it seems that either mine were on backwards OR I was shipped the wrong part..
I think RockAuto has them listed wrong, because if this is so, then both outers should be the same part No. But they have Front Right Inner and Front Left Outer listed as the same part No..
Thanks
Last edited by Xterrable; Jan 15, 2012 at 05:54 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 6,001
Likes: 113
From: Saginaw Michigan
By convention both outer tie rods should have left hand threads. The inner tie rods should be right hand threads.
The original Corvette adjuster tubes from around 1964 through the late 1970s had a groove machined on the outside near the LH threaded end of the tube. This would have been for internal identification at the Chevrolet-Buffalo linkage plant. Since the linkage came fully assembled to the Corvette assembly plant, they relied on the Buffalo workers to have assembled the linkage correctly. The assembly plant worker in St. Louis depended upon the fact that when he rotated the adjuster tubes to set front wheel toe, the rods had to always extend or retract when the tubes were rotated in the same direction.
The following drawing shows the RH and LH relationship.
BTW, since the Corvette inner and outer tie rods were the same except for the direction of threads, they will function perfectly well with both RH threads to the outside and both LH threads on the inside. Your alignment man will most likely be able to cope with the fact that your adjustments using the adjuster tubes will be backwards from the production versions.
Jim
The original Corvette adjuster tubes from around 1964 through the late 1970s had a groove machined on the outside near the LH threaded end of the tube. This would have been for internal identification at the Chevrolet-Buffalo linkage plant. Since the linkage came fully assembled to the Corvette assembly plant, they relied on the Buffalo workers to have assembled the linkage correctly. The assembly plant worker in St. Louis depended upon the fact that when he rotated the adjuster tubes to set front wheel toe, the rods had to always extend or retract when the tubes were rotated in the same direction.
The following drawing shows the RH and LH relationship.
BTW, since the Corvette inner and outer tie rods were the same except for the direction of threads, they will function perfectly well with both RH threads to the outside and both LH threads on the inside. Your alignment man will most likely be able to cope with the fact that your adjustments using the adjuster tubes will be backwards from the production versions.
Jim
