Guys,

I did an alignment today and was informed that both of my steering knuckles were loose and had backed out. The right side was hanging on a few threads and would have been a disaster if it let go at speed (loss of steering on 1 side). The steering ram is metal shaft that moves in and out of the steering rack to steer each wheel. The tie rod is attached to the ram by a large 1"+ sized nut. You cannot see the nut because it is inside of the rubber boot.

First clue was an off center steering wheel. The second clue was a mild clunk when i turned into my driveway (mild lip on the ramp).

Fred

 

I can believe that I am the only one with this issue...the design of this attachment allows the tie rod to work itself loose. All the wheel bearings I have seen have castle nuts to prevent wheels from coming off and not sure why steering would not be important enough to warrant the same design effort.

For those that are prematurely wearing their front tires, you may want to check toe angles for symptoms of tie rods backing out. Another tip if you do not want to spend $120 on an alignment is to look for gross feathering of the front tires.

Not to be the doom sayer, but this is a real safety issue.

Fred

 

Hello Fred,

Thanks for giving us a heads up. It's always important to learn from others experiences, both good and bad. Personally, I don't know of this issue on my Pepper, but I'll watch out for it.