Custom Tie Rods - Steel Grade

[GravyProv1]

Hey my buddy has to make some custom tie rods for his rig. Cold Roll steel rod is available here at the local metal shop. Anybody make some of these and is Cold Roll ok to use? My opinion was yes, but wanted to check with some other guys on it.

Thanks,
Gravy

 

[gert]

I usually see seamless DOM tubing listed in the "kits" but looking at the link it looks fine to me however I havent used it before, I have seen several vendors on line sell tubing http://www.mhprofessional.com/downloads/products/0071666664/0071666664_ch01.pdf

 

[Torxhead]

Cold rolled steel would be fine as long as it is large enough so you won't bend it, like about 1" in diameter. Tubing is good also, but once it starts to bend, its history.

 

[Old Dog]

I used cold roll DOM tube for my tie rod and drag link. cost $70 a few years ago.
I used 1 1/4 OD with 5/16 wall that way the ID was on size to tap for the stock cj tierod ends. I didn't like the idea of welding on inserts.
I haven't had any problems yet.

 

[tarry99]

Hey my buddy has to make some custom tie rods for his rig. Cold Roll steel rod is available here at the local metal shop. Anybody make some of these and is Cold Roll ok to use? My opinion was yes, but wanted to check with some other guys on it.

Thanks,
Gravy

Stay away from cold rolled steel bar stock............any tubing that is sized correctly for the application is much stronger and lighter...... in engineering terms........... on tubing your working off of 4 walls as opposed to 2 walls on a solid bar.
Dom mild steel tube is the norm for Heavy Duty tie rods...........you can either do as Old Dog has done and use a tube that has the correct sized ID in order to tap it or you can buy a heavier wall and just bore each end to the correct size & depth of your new threads...........keep in mind you will need a left & right hand tap to do this correctly......They can be expensive.............or you can buy tube adaptors that are already threaded Left & Right and weld them in. Either method is acceptable.
Note: On the pictures the adaptor has not yet been welded in.

 

[Old Dog]

tarry brings up a good point, that is, the two taps cost me as much as the tubing did. I wanted good made in the usa taps though as I also made some for a couple buddies with cj's and will probably use them again in the future.

 

[IOPort51]

^^^ Tarry is right ^^ tubing and inserts are best/easiest way to go. taps would be cool but a lot of work. tube stronger than solid in bend stress , DOM stronger than cold rolled. Rough stuff sells a good line of inserts, all different sizes.

 

[73CJ]

OK now hold on here.

A tube, the same diameter and same grade steel, is not as strong as a round bar. It's stronger in tension, compession and shear loadings. All calculations use the area of the cross section. Period.

DOM is more expensive but we're only talking 4-5 feet. Not 200-300. $20 more? This is not the place to be cheap - safety related.

I used DOM with weld-in inserts, LH and RH, 1/4" wall x 1-1/2" outside diameter for the tie rod. 7/8-18 Chevy tie rod ends.

I tapped the drag link 11/16-18 one end and 7/8-18 in DOM. .631 ID x 1-1/4" OD. Both RH thread.

Check out this link for lots of details: Steering Research

Or

Jeep Tie Rod and Drag Link End Identification | jeepfan.com

Bottom line - lots of ways to do it, all depends on what tools do you have (or your buddy)? Welder, lathe, taps etc.

 

[IOPort51]

But, we are not interested in tension , compression or shear. we are interested in resistance to bending, a tube resists bending by being both a compressional and tensional structure when under bending stress.

OK now hold on here.

A tube, the same diameter and same grade steel, is not as strong as a round bar. It's stronger in tension, compession and shear loadings. All calculations use the area of the cross section. Period.

DOM is more expensive but we're only talking 4-5 feet. Not 200-300. $20 more? This is not the place to be cheap - safety related.

I used DOM with weld-in inserts, LH and RH, 1/4" wall x 1-1/2" outside diameter for the tie rod. 7/8-18 Chevy tie rod ends.

I tapped the drag link 11/16-18 one end and 7/8-18 in DOM. .631 ID x 1-1/4" OD. Both RH thread.

Check out this link for lots of details: Steering Research

Or

Jeep Tie Rod and Drag Link End Identification | jeepfan.com

Bottom line - lots of ways to do it, all depends on what tools do you have (or your buddy)? Welder, lathe, taps etc.

 

[tarry99]

OK now hold on here.

A tube, the same diameter and same grade steel, is not as strong as a round bar. It's stronger in tension, compession and shear loadings. All calculations use the area of the cross section. Period.


73CJ

Your absoutely right that an equally sized same grade bar versus a tube may be stronger. But I have seen charts that show there is a break even point at a suggested wall thickness that can equal the same strength on an equal tube under certain tests.

But getting back to what I stated above was "any tubing that is sized correctly for the application is much stronger and lighter". That statement still holds true!

The conversastion was about Tie Rods and perhaps a Drag Link and the individual was talking about using cold rolled #1018 bar stock versus #1020 DOM tubing.

It is a well known fact that the weight to strength ratio is far better for a tube. This is simply because when you stress or bend a solid bar only the outer skin is actually stressed while the core is not contributing much strength at all.
In Bar Stock Metallurgial terms they refer to this as the 90/10 theory whereby the outer 10% bears 90% of the stress and the inner 90% only 10% of the strength, while in the case of the tube you remove a portion of the weight inside which was only contributing 10% of the strength , this is why a tube in the weight to strength ratio is much stronger simply because it retains only the material which contributes the most strength to the member and thereby creates the 4 wall theory.

The difference between the two metal grades mentioned above 1018 versus 1020?
The DOM tubing in Tensile & Yield Strength & Rockwell hardness alone exceed the cold rolled bar by over 8% in all departments. Notwithstanding the excellent memory of the tubing versus the Bar Stock makes this an easy choice.