BRONCO TIE ROD FAILURE - Finally Fixed! - By Lite Brite

TurboS

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First, I haven't heard of a Bronco Raptor tie rod breaking yet... and the Bronco & Raptor tie rods are purposely designed to break before the steering rack casing breaks. That said, these FMI tie rods look killer especially if you remove the little wing air dams or bumper end caps.

"Everyone knows (even if they don't want to admit it) that the new Ford Bronco has some key weak points - the steering rack and the tie rods. Both of these are common failure points, even on the Bronco Raptor. And since we've already eliminated one of those with the billet aluminum steering rack from 74Weld, that means upgrading the tie rods is next. Cause nothing sucks more than being stranded off road on a trail in the middle of no where...with a bent or broken tie rod."

 

ChiliPepper

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These Jags are tainted by their Badlands experience. Nice to have sponsors that give you unnecessary upgrades to market to unknowing BR owners.

Buyer Beware!
 

Roughstock

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These Jags are tainted by their Badlands experience. Nice to have sponsors that give you unnecessary upgrades to market to unknowing BR owners.

Buyer Beware!
I agree they are are selling parts and making content. Is there anything about tie rods breaking on the Raptor? I understand what @TurboS is saying about the tie rods.

A few thoughts and perhaps either of you or anyone else may have some answers.

1) If the tie rods are meant to break first, shouldn't we carry spares with us as many do?
2) If we can upgrade them now and they are stronger and look better shouldn't we do that?
3) Or, are the people that are breaking tie rods pushing these vehicles to the extreme and if that is the case as long as you don't get yourself into some crazy situation we do not need to be concerned.
4) Do we know if there has been a lot of Raptors braking tie rods?

I am sure there are pros and cons for any approach, It would be good to get to understand the situation better.

I was going to look into carrying some spares and tie rod tools. Any thoughts on this would be great. Thanks
 

Roughstock

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That is great. Can't wait to hear what they say. Thanks
I am heading to the Raptor Off-Raod Rodeo and I know they are beating the hell out of those Braptors day in and day out. I am curious to ask when I go if they have broken anything especially tie-rods when I am there. That should be a good indication as to what to consider to upgrade if necessary. My two cents worth.
 

Roughstock

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Can't wait to go as well. Just got to go when the heat drops a little so not going till end of Sept.

Anything thing I am curious to find out is the tire pressure they are using for the course.
Yeah that is a good question. I don't remember the guys mentioning that. I thought I read that they were running 25 psi at the other off rodeos. Not the Raptor one
 

Johnny Rebel

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Can't wait to go as well. Just got to go when the heat drops a little so not going till end of Sept.

Anything thing I am curious to find out is the tire pressure they are using for the course.
I asked about that. They told us the trucks were set up in the low 30’s, maybe 32 psi, but our truck was running 42 psi. Meant to ask if we needed to air them down, but was so busy that I never got around to it.

Also asked about repairs and expected vehicle life span in that environment. Since we were day 1, the didn’t really have good info on the repairs. Just said they’ll run the trucks into the ground for as long as they’ll last and fix whatever breaks.

Really interested to see what they look like after a year.
 

DallasCajun

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Given how hard the BRaptors are being run, this is what I expect after a year:

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ChiliPepper

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Yeah that is a good question. I don't remember the guys mentioning that. I thought I read that they were running 25 psi at the other off rodeos. Not the Raptor one
The R12 was at 32 psi as reported by the TPMS. I thought that was a bit high given I generally run 40 psi on payment, 20 psi on rock, and 15 psi in sand (depending on how the tire tracks look). Bri noted that BRO was trying to use a pressure for all of the terrain exposure for the day: [1] basecamp trail, [2] highway, [3] dirt road to Raptor Valley, [4] Baja course, [5] Ultra4 course, [6] rock crawl course. The off-road FOX live-valve setting gives a softer ride at higher pressures.

I've never driven [4] or [5] before so who am I to say what the tire pressure should be for that.

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Roughstock

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That is an interesting read. My friend who has run the Baja many times who I posted about his dad in the Off Road Hall of Fame runs his tires at full pressure and will only air down if he needs to get out of somewhere. Interesting. I posted on another forum I was going to ran basically at full pressure and people had a heart attack. Only one guy said if you are running 1, 2 and 3 grade trails there is no need to air down. When rock crawling it makes sense to air down but for desert high speed it seems not too much.

I like the idea of 32 psi, it has a nice ring to it. I found it interesting some where getting flats at 28 psi I believe. Interesting a guy was running a Chenowth car.
The R12 was at 32 psi as reported by the TPMS. I thought that was a bit high given I generally run 40 psi on payment, 20 psi on rock, and 15 psi in sand (depending on how the tire tracks look). Bri noted that BRO was trying to use a pressure for all of the terrain exposure for the day: [1] basecamp trail, [2] highway, [3] dirt road to Raptor Valley, [4] Baja course, [5] Ultra4 course, [6] rock crawl course. The off-road FOX live-valve setting gives a softer ride at higher pressures.

I've never driven [4] or [5] before so who am I to say what the tire pressure should be for that.

 

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