Leejohn
Elite Member
There should of been a recall on them!!!! What would of happened if someone got killed because of one braking that easy and often.
Branson Tie-Rod end replacement
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mike0000
Platinum Member
You’re probably right Leejohn, I don’t know if other owners had it happen earlier in the life of their tractors. Mine broke after owning it (from new) for about 17 years, but I do not put heavy hours on my tractor.
They (both tie rod ends) had gotten sloppy/loose in the tapered receiving mount. I dealt with it for several years by adding a washer under the castle nut on each one. That was probably when I should have “fixed it right”, but I’m a bit of a red neck engineer.
Mike
The part arrived fairly quickly from an eBay seller who had one in surplus, so I paid just $15 for a replacement tie rod end. But the replacement was not exactly as was removed from the tractor. I had to cut the threaded bit of the new tie rod end to make it much shorter, and cut the old ball joint off the old tie rod end.
Branson had used the same kind of tie rod end on their assembly. It's actually threaded into the tube that connects to the steering actuator. That tube has internal threads at each end, but not all the way through. I tapped it a bit deeper than it was to make up for a slightly longer new tie rod end.
The threads on the tube are a common M20. I didn't weld the new tie rod end to the threaded tube, but I did put a little loctite in there. So far it seems to be fine.
I bought my tractor new over 17 years ago, and the ball joint broke while I was running over some very rough terrain in the woods, so I'm not REAL upset that it broke. I was unhappy that a replacement part is so expensive. $300 is absolutely insane for a $50 tie-rod end welded to a short length of threaded tubing. And the price for the upgrade kit is unreasonable, too.
If the other side breaks in the future then I'll just do the same fix again. But if I were driving on the roads often then I might be more concerned.