Tie Rod Question

Should the wrench notches in the tie rods be closer to the wheel or the steering box?

I am asking because I purchased a short set for my narrowed beam and the notches are on the steering box side. It makes it almost impossible to adjust the longer tie rod. See the image below.

I' ve never seen one with notches...I just turn em by hand or use a pipe wrench/vise grips.

bumblebuggy wrote:I' ve never seen one with notches...I just turn em by hand or use a pipe wrench/vise grips.

X2, never seen em like that. If you reversed it, would the notch be in an easier place to get to? Should be easy enough to flip it, just measure it from end to end, take it apart and flip it, then put it back together to the length you measured.

I've always just done mine like Glen said, but I know you have done a ton of work on your pan, so you would probably like to not scratch up the tie rods with a pipe wrench (pipe wrench has always left knicks/scracthes on mine)

fluxcap wrote:

bumblebuggy wrote:I' ve never seen one with notches...I just turn em by hand or use a pipe wrench/vise grips.

X2, never seen em like that. If you reversed it, would the notch be in an easier place to get to? Should be easy enough to flip it, just measure it from end to end, take it apart and flip it, then put it back together to the length you measured.

I've always just done mine like Glen said, but I know you have done a ton of work on your pan, so you would probably like to not scratch up the tie rods with a pipe wrench (pipe wrench has always left knicks/scracthes on mine)

You can't flip the long one. There are left and right hand threads and the long one has the absorber hole so it has to go the way he has it.

yeah, didn't think about the dampner piece. Maybe since you have just freshly put it together you can adjust it with you hands. If not, you need to find someone with a pet gorilla, they have really strong hands.

Hmmm......a pet.....gorilla. Sounds like you've been out in the sun too long..... Now, get outta my yard!

Shop rag around the pipe then vise grips to turn. As far a beauty goes, unless that's stainless, it's going to rust after about a week on the road anyway so I wouldn't wory about tool marks too much.

Thanks for the replies! The fabricator (Pete at AirKewld) said the marks were just to indicate the side that the left hand threads were on - not for a wrench. As far as adjusting it, I'll just wrap a few layers of electrical tape around it and use the channel locks when it needs adjusting. I hope that the powder coating will resist the rain longer than a week.