Spare/Replacement Tie Rods

After watching somebody fold their inner tie rod on the trail Saturday (requiring a 100-mile round trip to the O'Reilly's in Reno for a replacement), I've concluded that I really should keep a couple inners and an outer in the spare parts bag in my truck. However, I'm not sure which ones to get.

Outer Tie Rod:

• OEM $60
• Moog $40

Inner Tie Rod:

• OEM $120
• Low Range Offroad $52
• Beck-Arnley $36
  
• Moog $35

I can eat $20 sticking with OEM outers if they're really superior to the alternative, but paying double or triple more for OEM inners seems a bit ridiculous (especially if I'm picking up a pair of them). Out of the other options, which one's the best to go with? It's probably worth noting that I'm running 33s with a front locker, and will likely be bumping up to 34s or 35s next year.

 

Napa sells Altrom/Sankei/555 tie rods. They are OEM manufacturer.

 

Have you considered these:


https://warfabarmor.com/products/tacoma-tie-rod-sleeves

 

I'm still lol'ing that 555 is a Japanese company and would be said "GO-GO-GO" what a perfectly Japanese name for a car parts company.

 

I was actually part of the initial group buy, but I'm concerned that a situation that would normally result in a broken tie rod (a relatively cheap and seemingly easy trail fix, based on what I've seen) would result in a damage to the steering rack (no clue how to fix that myself) were they to be installed.

Thanks! I looked it up, and the inners are cheaper than OEM through Toyota, but still double the cost of the other options.

 

For inners I would only go OEM, for spares though, at least 555 if not OEM.

 

If you are going to be wheeling and folding them in, just get Moog. You won't have them on the truck long enough to notice the slightly less quality than OEM.

 

Agreed. When you rebuild your whole front end once every 6 months or sooner cheaper parts are just fine. I'm partial to Proforged myself.

 

Ended up ordered 555s earlier in the evening. Was able to find them for $50 at LROR (although I did have to find the P/Ns for the lock washers and some other stuff through Toyota, since the 555s don't come with any of that stuff).

 

I just installed 555's on my truck today. Little harder to find. But preferred for aftermarket.

 

I'm a simpleton when it comes to Math, and I can even calculate that the issue is that for the price you aren't going to get 4x the longevity out of the OEM, buy 4 MOOGs and leave in the toolbox. If you are driving thousands of highway miles and need ride quality than get the OEM if thats what floats yer boat. When wheeling, I don't believe the OEM are 4x stronger than MOOG, but the joint itself may last a bit longer (assuming it doesn't get folded in because of front locker and wheeling fun). Proforged and MEVOTECH are other brands I have used in the past with decent results.

 

As far as tools, is there anything I need beyond this?

needlenose pliers - removing cotter pin from castle nut
19mm (?) socket - loosening/reinstalling castle nut
22mm open-end wrench - loosening/tightening jam nut
deadblow hammer (or 2lb sledge?) - knocking the outer tie rod loose
long flathead or punch - popping the lock washer off and removing the OEM inner clamp on the boot
ball peen hammer or punch - installing a new lock washer

 

Inner tie rods require a special socket tool, but I just use a large plumbers pipe wrench. You walk the rack all the way to one side. Remove outer, boot, then spin off inner.

 

I would stay away from moog. After they got bought out their quality controll has gone downhill. They are not the best thing out there like they were in the past.

 

I keep a tie rod puller in my arsenal, hardly takes up any space and makes popping the joint off a 2 second deal and prevents marring up good outer tie rod threads. As for the open ended wrench, leave yourself a pipe wrench or large crescent wrench in the box, you can use them for the inner tie rod and many other jobs as well.

 

Haven't noticed a difference here but I destroy about any part in short order unless it's chromoly LOL.

 

I got about 40k miles out of my last set of Moog inners.

If you’re gonna be destroying em it’s silly to buy OEM if you’re not gonna get 4 times the life out of them.

 

I have 177k on my OEM inner and outer tie rods and they still have no play. If his moog only lasted 40k then yeah I expect I would get more out of OEM parts.

 

Ok. My factory inners barely made it 100k before they needed replaced.

OP is worried about destroying them on a trail, not longevity on the road.

OEM will fold just as fast as the Moogs. They’re not 4x stronger.

 

I've gone through 3 sets. The first 2 lasted maybe 75k combined. Those two years I hit trails and drove 500+ mile weekends every weekend.

My current set, I believe they are trq, have gone 75k and 2 years.

Really depends on our usage/setup. My stuff breaks faster than usual