Front Right Rod End Snapped Twice This Year

[Leslie]

I have a 2019 that is having problems with right front tie rod end breaking. First broke in January of this year and again today. I ordered a replacement from Wade but to keep going I welded the broken rod and it broke again today. My weld held but the rod snapped. Max’s long travel kit was installed in December but I cannot find any binding that would cause this solid piece of steel to break. Both times I was barely moving in sandy conditions and my concern is it breaking at higher speeds. Anyone else have this issue or thoughts on why breaking? Did install the one from Wade so maybe better steel?

 

[Hummingbird Ranch]

Post an in focus close up of each of the fracture surfaces. I might be able to see if it appears to be fatigue or simple overload.

 

[Leslie]

This help?

 

[Hummingbird Ranch]

Beach lines are very visible. Fatigue cracks initiated at thread roots and progressed from top and bottom of photo toward center where overload failure finally occurred after approximately only 20 percent of structure was left in the middle. Lack of any corrosion indicates this fatigue growth likely occurred over a very short period of time, and the fact that you had two fatigue cracks starting opposite each other and evenly growing towards each other indicates that you likely had some sort of fairly constant, cyclic, back and forth, bending motion occurring. I would guess that you drive mostly on pavement and likely have some sort of wheel wobble or out of balance tires. Unless you just had a poorly manufactured part with cut threads instead of rolled threads, I suspect your new part will fail exactly the same way until you correct the root cause. I would try to rule out any sort of wheel wobble, loose/worn bearings, loose lug nuts, and out of balance/out of round tires as much as possible. I would be a bit scared to drive this at high speeds.

 

[Leslie]

Thanks for your feedback. This Roxor is used on a farm/ranch and never sees pavement or high speeds. A high speed would be 30 mpg but most speeds are under that and always on gravel ranch roads or in the pasture on dirt. Will jack it up tomorrow and check it out again.