So as all of you know, I bent the SNOT
out of JD's tie rod in Mohawk 2 weeks ago. Fortunately, we scored a used one someone had with them on the trail to make the fix and keep going. After we got back I immediately began looking into a real replacement sturdy enough to avoid bending it again. What I found out was that the '98 Grand Cherokee's with the V8 have a pretty beefy one that fits the TJ quite nicely. The ends are the same but have
7/8" threaded ends instead of the stock 5/8" (I think). All the heavy duty ones you can buy are going to be about 1 1/4" or 1 1/8" tube with a 1/4" thick wall. Strong but not as strong as a solid rod like the Grand's. Also, a stock tie rod adjusts on both ends where as the Grands has one fixed end(drag link-passenger side) and just the other side to adjust.
If anyone is looking for a stout upgrade the NAPA part numbers are:
NAPA NCP 2696085 (long passenger side)
NAPA NCP 2692788 (driver side tie rod end)
NAPA NCP 2691134 (Adjusting Sleeve)
From the Groton NAPA with the military discount, $146 out the door. Any off road purpose heavy duty rods are going to run you $189 or more. And this is much stronger....
