Just back from a long weekend adventure in the Sportsmobile -- first trip in over 6 months! Surprises include a mouse, the Norcold 2.7cf fridge failing, and my tie rod falling off! Good thing I was going very slow when the steering went. I did notice the steering feeling a strangley loose and funny a few hours earlier on a gravel road, but it seemed to get better when I returned to pavement. After driving on the highway a bit (so lucky nothing happened), I went back off pavement and after a hard right-turn, the steering went haywire. Went out to take a look and my tie rod was disconnected. The screw threads completely stripped!
After staring at it for a while, I got creative and hacked together a temporary fix. I had my wife turn the steering wheel as I waited under the van using my hands to guide the striped tie rod back onto the tie rod end, and then I used some truck straps to hold it in place. Worked great!
How could this have happened, I wonder? Overtightening? I do not believe the tie rod has been touched by any mechanic in at least 30000 miles.
In any case, I'm looking for some help replacing this.
I assume I need to replace both the tie rod ends and the tie rod itself, right? Or is one of these parts softer metal that's stripped while the other has not?
I see that the tie rod ends for my 2004 Sportsmobile 4x4 are Moog # ES194R / ES194L or Dynatrac # DA60-3304-A / DA60-3304-B. But, what is my tie rod itself?
Anyone know what make/part do I order for the tie rod?
Thanks for any help!
-- Geoff