JD 790 tie rod bending

[John Weaver]

Hello all, my name is John. I have been a member here for many years but can't remember the last time I logged on. Anyway, I have a JD790, good machine. I may be operating it beyond the design limits, but it is what I have. I have bent the tie rod several time and always bend it back mostly straight and reuse it. Today I seriously bent it, maybe a 30 degree bend. Nothing else seems to be damaged. I can remove it and straighten again. My question is should I but a new one ($125) or maybe reinforce the old one. Will reinforcing cause something expensive to break if I make the tie rod to rigid? BTW, parts for this machine are getting harder to find. Had to buy a used transmission a few years ago because the damaged gears in mine were not available from JD. Thanks for any suggestions you guys have. John

 

[Peter 315]

Get the new one for a spare , every time you fix the old one it gets weaker....:2cents:

 

[rScotty]

Hello all, my name is John. I have been a member here for many years but can't remember the last time I logged on. Anyway, I have a JD790, good machine. I may be operating it beyond the design limits, but it is what I have. I have bent the tie rod several time and always bend it back mostly straight and reuse it. Today I seriously bent it, maybe a 30 degree bend. Nothing else seems to be damaged. I can remove it and straighten again. My question is should I but a new one ($125) or maybe reinforce the old one. Will reinforcing cause something expensive to break if I make the tie rod to rigid? BTW, parts for this machine are getting harder to find. Had to buy a used transmission a few years ago because the damaged gears in mine were not available from JD. Thanks for any suggestions you guys have. John

It's hard to understand what would make a tie rod bend like you are saying. I don't think that you could easily cause that failure by operating beyond the design limits. So it's possible that the tie rod itself is defective. No, I wouldn't reinforce it. I would replace it, because The first thing you need to know is if the tie rod itself is too weak. Does it always bend in the same place? As Peter says, the old one gets more likely to bend in the same place every time you straighten it.

While you have the tie rod off for straightening, check that the tie rod ball ends are turning smoothly. Then jack up the front axle and check that the front wheels are pivoting smoothly. There shouldn't be much if any resistance to either of those motions. If so, then that definitely needs attention. Either of those could cause a tie rod to bend. Not much else could.

That tie rod is pretty universal piece. Yanmar parts might fit.
rScotty

 

[John Weaver]

Thanks for the timely responses. I guess I should have mentioned this in the original post, but the tie rod gets bent when I hit something. I do a lot of bush hogging and run over tree limbs. I never know what exactly causes it to bend. With the relatively low ground clearance I may be running over stuff that is to high / to large.

 

[grnspot110]

I replaced mine not long after I bought my 790 used, as I recall (my memory isn't very good), the original was tubular, but the new one was solid bar stock. No bending since I replaced it!

 

[John Weaver]

I got the tie rod off today )it was tubular steel) and was able to straighten it out with a 20 ton press. It went well and was reinstalled w/o issue. I will look at the new bar stock replacement. May be a nice upgrade. Thanks for all the comments.

 

[RickB]

It's hard to understand what would make a tie rod bend like you are saying. I don't think that you could easily cause that failure by operating beyond the design limits. So it's possible that the tie rod itself is defective. No, I wouldn't reinforce it. I would replace it, because The first thing you need to know is if the tie rod itself is too weak. Does it always bend in the same place? As Peter says, the old one gets more likely to bend in the same place every time you straighten it.

While you have the tie rod off for straightening, check that the tie rod ball ends are turning smoothly. Then jack up the front axle and check that the front wheels are pivoting smoothly. There shouldn't be much if any resistance to either of those motions. If so, then that definitely needs attention. Either of those could cause a tie rod to bend. Not much else could.

That tie rod is pretty universal piece. Yanmar parts might fit.
rScotty

I’ve seen a fair number of Ford and New Holland tie rods bent. Most of the time it is caused by running into things like stumps and other fixed objects with a front wheel. They can be reinforced with a length of angle iron by laying the tie rod in the V of the angle and welding. But the next failure might be an axle shaft or steering arm.