Time to replace those tie rods in my 71 RR. I can't seem to find or remember what ones I need to get that are a larger diameter, but still fit. C-body perhaps? What year?

74 and up c-body newport newyorker.

I'll see if I can get a set for this weekend.

For the nth time, Why?

Nobody has ever shown to my knowledge any emperical data to indicate how much less distortion is achieved with the larger 11/16" TR. Unless your main interest is hitting potholes, and curbs repeatedly and hard. The forces on a cornering wheel are mainly thru the ball joints anyway, the TR mainly see steering wheel correction inputs. If you think 11/16" is such a plus, why not say use 3/4" or larger then? And for reference have you ever seen what the Mustang 5.0 guys use for bump steer correction, although thousands are in use, and relative to a mopar 9/16 TR, a real IMO joke. Regardless, I bet you use 11/16" TR.

Running beefier parts designed for bigger heavier cars on a smaller lighter car is the essence of hot rodding.

If they require replacement anyway and they cost the same, why not make the switch?

actually they were cheaper the the stock replacements,so why not?

look at it this way...Mopar decided that the larger, heavier C-bodys needed them, presumably due to the larger, heavier forces acting upon the steering components.
Since we, as enthusiasts, are likely to drive our A/B/E's harder than average its very conceivable that our steering systems would need to endure forces similar to that of the c-bodys.
And the centerlinks, pitman and idlers are built very beefy--the tie rods look wimpy in comparison.
Some people even weld up the splits for added strength.
Its not rocket science.

Another thing that needs to be considered is that a lot of our older Mopars are using bigger and sticker tires and wheels than were available when they were new. eg. My 'Cuda came from the factory in'72 with 14in. wheels that were less than 6 in. wide with relatively skinny bias ply tires with marginal grip. Now I run wheels that measure 17x8 with 245x45 Kumho's with a lot of "stick". I'll take all the stiffness I can get in the steering linkage.

You can also get complete kits from places like Firm Feel with the larger tie rod ends as well as billet adjusters. That is what I run on my B body car.

So beefier tie rods, what about torsion bars. I see some advertised. Worth the upgrade ? What about Bondo Bob's new aluminum parts? I hope he chimes in.. Love his stuff.

http://www.bobsprofab.com/

Doesn't it hurt your orifice to pull so many numbers out of it?

Only one with a glass navel would see it that that way.

I'm also pretty confident less then 5% here will trully understand the implications of that comment, while I'm working out numbers

You make a valid point there regarding the compliance of the other areas of the car.
But what about for someone who has upgraded everything else? 17" AA Traction rated tires, 1" torsion bars, Chassis reinforcements and stiffer bushings etc, etc. Is it then a worthwhile mod in your eyes?

I dont get the need for the extreme example out of increasing the weight to tank proportions. TR are down low, behind the axle CL and perform a task. Plus the weight difference can be more than made up for with an AL master cylinder.

Fair question, but my main point was again "why", its not so much about weight, which is equal to a 1/4 pounder, but the guess still remains, it's still only a .33% improvement.

I may have an agenda in that my first resto mod many years ago I bought the 11/16" Tr, because that was the "hot" set-up, and then I asked my myself for many years, why exactly did I do that, I try to hear/understand other opinions/reasons, and then make thought out decisions, this choice of TR I could never justify. Does it hurt anything, not really, does it make many feel warm and fuzzy, I guess. Does it make sense, not to me, but then following the herd has never been my forte.

To start with I agree that the ball joints and inner control arm pivots along with the crossmember/torsion bar anchors take most of the loads during steady state cornering. There is however a brief but important time when the wheels are turned from straight ahead to whatever angle is needed in a turn and back again when the steering linkage is subjected to tension and compression loads. If as I stated earlier the tires are larger and stickier than the originals then the loads experienced by the tie rods will also increase. In all fairness I haven't used strain gauges to measure the difference, but clearly there has to be an increase. Now except for crash damage I have never seen even a 9/16 tie rod fail anywhere except at the ball socket, usually from wear and lack of lube. Still for only a very modest increase in weight the 11/16 tie rod offers a nearly 50% [ .49 ]increase in area so long as we're talking #s. I know as well as anyone that weight is the enemy of performance, but not all weight is equal, rotating weight being much worse generally than static weight. Location also matters, low and toward the center being least harmful. Tie rods at least are low and don't rotate. I am not trying to start some sort of pointless argument here, but I for one don't see any real downside to using something stronger where suspension and steering is concerned especially when the weight penalty is insignificant.

I did the upgrade recently and it does aid in the braking department and alignment -

Since our mopars all have the tie rods behind the center of the spindle the fact is that when you brake - you stress the tie rods and sleeves - if you have original sleeves you will have more flex in them and with the larger solid sleeves the aftermarket makes elminates alot of flex in the tie rod sleeve - and when it sees the stress is during braking of any kind. The alignment , or more specifically the TOE can be altered from this flex. Typically mopars run a 1/8 to 1/16th of toe in to correct this problem - that measurement is factored based upon the flex you will see under a braking situation to avoid a toe out condition. With an aftermarket sleeve you can get alot closer to zero toe, 1/32 in my case to have longer tire life and more accurate handling.

I was skeptical at first, but after about 110, comning up to a corner, the car was much more stable and I immediately noticed the lack of steering wheel play from years past while bringing the car down from speed.

The heavy braking flex is an interesting concept, and likely very valid, especially with a lot of wheel offset, however in your case, are you pretty confident that was soley responsible for your improvement?