Tie-Rods are a pretty easy and often overlooked modification. But
they are a very important mod for serious riders. The small stock
tie rods and tie rod ends supplied by Yamaha aren’t very
strong. It does not take very long for anyone riding hard to bend
or brake one. Along with needing a stronger tie rod and end, we
needed some longer tie rods to go with our new Epic front end.
On the top is a stock tie rod end and on
the bottom is the much beefier Ricky Stator Tie rod
end.
Epic sent us longer tie rods with the a-arm kit , but they use the
stock ends, and after one race I was able to bend a tie rod. The
Ricky Stator tie rods are made of a much stronger
solid 17-4 heat treated stainless steel. The threads are also
rolled on which is much stronger than cut threads. The shaft size
is also a bit larger being ½” in diameter. In order for
the tie rod end stud to fit perfectly into the spindle, it is
tapered just like the stock ends. ( No need to drill out your
spindles.)Installation As I said, tie rods
are very easy to remove and re-install. One end of the tie rod is
connected to the pitman arm (a metal piece with two holes at the
bottom of the steering stem that turns the tie rods), and the other
end is connected to your spindle. At both places the end is held on
with a cotter pin and a castle nut. When you’ve taken out the
pin and removed the nut, you need to use a tie rod separator to
break the ends loose from the spindle and the arm. Grease the
rubber boot and the separator to make sure that you don’t rip
the boot. Slide the separator part of the way in, and then tap the
end with a hammer until it breaks loose. You are then ready to put
in your new tie rods. You may want to adjust the tie rods to
approximately the same length as your old ones prior to
installation. As you are adjusting the tie rods try and adjust each
end the same amount of turns to keep it even. After installing the
tie rods install the castle nuts and put in a cotter pin. You can
use the old cotter pin if it hasn’t gotten to soft, but it is
best to use new ones. With the tie rods in you can then adjust your
toe. the amount of toe-in or Toe-out is pretty much personal
preference and also depends on the type of suspension and type of
track you ride on. Summary A Ricky Stator tie rod
kit costs about $200 but is worth every penny. I can personally
say, it hurts a lot to have a tie rod bend during a race. Try not
to wait until this happens to change yours.
A young gun from way back, Justin began racing ATVs and writing his impressions for Off-Road.com at 12 years old. Now an experienced hand with a wrench or a computer keyboard, he's a key contributor to several sections of Off-Road.com. His current 4x4 series includes Project "Off Road Toyota."
Articles by Justin Waters
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Tie-Rods are a pretty easy and often overlooked modification. But
they are a very important mod for serious riders. The small stock
tie rods and tie rod ends supplied by Yamaha aren’t very
strong. It does not take very long for anyone riding hard to bend
or brake one. Along with needing a stronger tie rod and end, we
needed some longer tie rods to go with our new Epic front end.
