[zerobird]

So I went camping up in the mountains for 1 night, and while I was up there I thought it was a good idea to gather a bed full of rocks to build a firepit. All of that went fine till I tried to drive up the hill in front of our campsite. When I started back up the hill, twas a slow "bump it or hump it" session. So you know how that turned out...a quick moment of no traction followed by a grab of the MTRs... FAIL!!! I bent my passenger side tie rod adjuster sleeve. Camped that night as planned, drank heavily, and left my truck on the hill for the night, 40 feet from our fire. Next morning drove the 25 miles in my girl's truck to the nearby town of Silverthorne (for peeps that know Colorado) to find that nobody in the area of Dillion, Frisco, Breckenridge and so on had the parts. They told me that I could have one delivered from Denver the next morning or go pick it up myself. So I drove our Xterra back to the campsite to let the rest of our crew of 9 know that I was gonna have to drive back to Denver to get the parts if I wanted to drive my the Frontier home that night. (no phone service at our campsite) Long story short I drove our X the 100 miles or so back to Denver and then back to the spot to make the repair. I tethered my truck to a tree with my winch so in the small case the parking brake failed my truck didn't roll into the firepit or worse, the river. I used the stock jacks from both our Nissans to lift the truck and raise the control arm for the install. After the 6 hours of drivin round the state it took an hour to replace and an eyeballed allignment. So here are the pics my lady took while I worked. Feel free to stamp "FAIL" on whatever you like. (skidplate only removed to see if there was damage elsewhere)

 

[Mandangalo]

damn!!! thats one crazy bend

 

[kahfamily1]

because nobody else did - FAIL, just kidding glad you had some gear to work with

 

[dubie2003]

Is this the reason why PRG makes a set of double heimed ones for the 2nd gens?

 

[LoopOut]

Sorry for being really dumb, but... did you hit a rock and bend it?? Im guessing that's what happened.

Dubie: Again, feeling dumb. Why do double heimed tie rods help?

 

[shinermiller]

FAIL - Great job on the trail fix and sticking it out, sir. Sounds like it made for a great story and pictures.

 

[openmind10988]

damn!!! thats one crazy bend

X2

I thought this part was pretty funny when you said "Camped that night as planned, drank heavily, and left my truck on the hill for the night"

 

[nismo5]

looks like its time to sas that thing

 

[zerobird]

Yeah I always have my tools with me, especially when I'm headed offroad. It's actually the second time I've destoryed one, think I'll keep an extra in the rig from now on. Yeah, as I was takin that wheel up the rock, it bounced twice as it lost and regained traction a couple times. As soon as it started to bounce I let off the gas but it still had momentum when it hit dirt and the rotating force of the wheel was transfered to the adjuster sleeve. It's hard to see in the pics but it bent right in line with the threads.

looks like its time to sas that thing

Yeah man, sas is on the todo list but most likely won't happen for a couple years.

 

[roastbeef]

i'm not seeing why the winch was necissary... what was it for?

 

[zerobird]

i'm not seeing why the winch was necissary... what was it for?

I just had it attached the tree incase the truck rolled off the jack. I know it's a lil overkill but I was a lil weary of jackin the truck up on an incline.

 

[dubie2003]

Dubie: Again, feeling dumb. Why do double heimed tie rods help?

They are usually made of thick DOM tubing (or sleeved tubing, one tube inside of another for double wall thickness) with heims on both ends. The overall product is usually a bit stronger in all forms and the heims eliminate extra play that the OEM rubber bushings have.

 

[roastbeef]

i see, its hard to judge depth and angles in pictures.

 

[zerobird]

i see.

Yeah man I wasn't tryin to winch my pigeon toed truck up the hill. Lol. I like to think I've got a clue on what's goin on.

 

[roastbeef]

no no man, it makes sense. its just hard to see angles/depth in pictures.

 

[zerobird]

no no man, it makes sense. its just hard to see angles/depth in pictures.

Agreed. No offence taken. Lol.

 

[Frijolero]

Awesome!!!
Your truck looks coy in the first picture.

 

[Weps]

i don't have a lot of experience with frontier weak points so i'm having a tough time following what went wrong here and what could have been done differently. from the pics, it looks as if it should have been an easy climb. could someone step me through the failure?

and there is some real personality in the first pic. lol. just drawing you in before the pounce!

 

[airbag]

I've seen this happen before which is why I picked up AC's HD tie rod adjusters. https://www.4x4parts.com/nissan/heavy-duty-tie-rod-adjustors-p-436.html Don't know if it would have made a difference where yours bent unless AC's are harder steel. Seems like they normally bend at the thinner part. The best $75 insurance policy I ever spent.

 

[airbag]

WEPS - i don't have a lot of experience with frontier weak points so i'm having a tough time following what went wrong here and what could have been done differently. from the pics, it looks as if it should have been an easy climb. could someone step me through the failure?

It has to do with unfortunately hitting an obstacle at the right (wrong) angle with the right amount of pressure (momentum) in conjunction with the extreme angles of the steering components (tie rods, center link and drag link) after doing a suspension lift. The stock tie rod adjusters are one of the weakest links. AC makes a beefier set of adjusters for that. I don't think anything could have been done differently from the drivers seat. Just a bad set of circumstances. There are fixes for all of these.
The 1st gen steering is similar to a jeep wrangler. The 2nd gen steering is almost identical to a Chevy Trailblazer/Envoy.

Anybody else have anything to add ? I may have missed something.

WEPS, Are you going to RCP with us on the 17th ? I can point some things out on my truck if you want. I only have one more upgrade left to do with my steering.