36 cabriolet tie rod question

N

North-Fork-LI

Junior Member
I think I know the answer but I believe my father in law hit his wheel on something before he garaged his cabriolet since the 1960's. I am tasked by my wife's family to get this on the street again. I think I need a new tie rod since I have not seen a picture with a curved tie rod in the 36.
 

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Just straighten it out in a press, cold. I've had to do the same a few times over the years after I've taken my 35 off road. lol
 
Hi there. Now engineering wise you would think that tie rods and drag links should be straight. Macs catalog, Drakes catalog, the 35-36 ford book have DRAWINGS showing what appear to be straight 35-36 ford tie rods. However last year I fitted a new reproduction 36 ford tie rod to a friends 36 sedan. It is bent like the original one in North-Forks picture. Also the original one of the car was bent. Just as fordscript has stated it needs to be bent to clear a front radius rod. One way to check is to put that tie rod back on when the car is reassembled and check the toe in settings. If it is bent way out of wack then likewise the toe in settings will be difficult or impossible to correct. I WOULD NOT STRAIGHTEN THAT ROD. The car I worked on was RHD but seems that tie rod fits right and left hand drive cars anyway, just turn it over. Just my two cents worth. Regards kevin
 
With all due respect to our Australian and New Zealand friends it would appear that some "down under" march to a different drummer.
A bent tie rod will only make the job of adjusting the toe much more difficult and serve no other function.
 
I probably have a half dozen tie rods removed from original '35 & '36 Fords, plus four original cars within those years with their original tie rods and none of these tie rods are bent like the one pictured above.
 
A bent tie rod would allow flexing between the wheels and be almost impossible to adjust once installed.
 
Koates, thanks for your support. I feel like a dumb**s. I didn't read the question properly, and by seeing the 34 drag link for comparison, mistakenly assumed we were talking about drag links. Maybe I need a new interest.
 
Hi fordscript, and others. More like you need new glasses. I just rang my friend whose car we replaced the tie rod on (not drag link) and he confirmed that the new one was bent just like the one we took off because the non replaceable end was worn out. But it is only slightly bent and not as much as the one pictured. So maybe something to do with RHD cars only so as to give clearance of radius rods. So it would seem USA LHD cars are straight. Now that's all I will say on the subject as I am a 33-34 ford "expert" ?? (a drip under pressure) and only know a little of 35-36 fords even though I have worked on a few from time to time. As for 34 ford drag links, they should be straight although I have seen several bent ones. Regards, Kevin.
 
The tie rod or track rod has two replaceable ends, and is always straight. (unless modified in a hot rod application) The drag link in a cross steer car (35-48) has a long end and a replaceable end at the other end, and is very often bent as stock to clear the radius rods (wishbone).

The one pictured should just be straightened carefully. Just by hand in a vice will probably do it.

If the track rod is bent for clearance it compromises the toe in adjustment as the minimum you can change is one pitch of the thread (1/18th of an inch). A straight bar is infinitely adjustable as you turn the bar and the left and right hand threads adjust to whatever length needed to set the toe.

the drag link, even though bent, has in effect one long end, a short end and a short piece joining them. Turning the short sleeve allows infinite adjustment of the drag link even though one part of it is bent.

Mart.
 
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