Sketchy On-Trail Rivian Tie Rod Fix Proves Even an EV Can Be Rescued With Some Welded Rebar

[Dirty_B]

Just noticed this story. If you're the owner, glad ya got hooked up and rescued.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/sketc...n-an-ev-can-be-rescued-with-some-welded-rebar

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[COdogman]

That is crazy. Sure seems like we are hearing about more of these tie rod issues. They do look pretty wimpy for a truck this heavy.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

I came across this solution the other day. It's a tie rod sleeve that goes over the existing stock tie rod to bolster it.
They are in the process of making them and will be on the website soon.
www.dirtyhookerdiesel.com

 

[SoCal Rob]

That is crazy. Sure seems like we are hearing about more of these tie rod issues. They do look pretty wimpy for a truck this heavy.

Yeah, this isn’t great news if we want to go off-road.

I came across this solution the other day. It's a tie rod sleeve that goes over the existing stock tie rod to bolster it.
They are in the process of making them and will be on the website soon.
www.dirtyhookerdiesel.com

That looks like a great solution, but is there a risk of breaking something else?

I could be wrong, but I think of the tie rods as being sacrificial in that they break first to prevent damaging more expensive parts of the suspension and steering gear. Kind of like the physical version of an electrical fuse, but requiring a lot more labor to replace than swapping a fuse. Of course, even if we took the precaution of bringing extra tie rods with us, being on a trail could make replacement challenging or impossible.

 

[zefram47]

I came across this solution the other day. It's a tie rod sleeve that goes over the existing stock tie rod to bolster it.
They are in the process of making them and will be on the website soon.
www.dirtyhookerdiesel.com

But then what breaks...the rack? Beef up something and the next weak link down the line will break instead...and likely something more expensive.

 

[HighVoltOverland]

Is this not the same repair from last year?
I distinctly remember it spawning a discussion about the tie rod being weaker to act as a sacrificial piece that saves the other more involved suspension components

I even asked the service center when I took delivery if they could sell loose tie rods for this reason…

 

[SoCal Rob]

Is this not the same repair from last year?
I distinctly remember it spawning a discussion about the tie rod being weaker to act as a sacrificial piece that saves the other more involved suspension components

I even asked the service center when I took delivery if they could sell loose tie rods for this reason…

If you’re thinking of this one it’s a different Rivian, but similar issue and on-trail welding was also the fix: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/rivian-broken-tie-rod-off-road-recovery.7082/

 

[seanocono]

I came across this solution the other day. It's a tie rod sleeve that goes over the existing stock tie rod to bolster it.
They are in the process of making them and will be on the website soon.
www.dirtyhookerdiesel.com

Haha. Gotta love that company name.

 

[Killer95Stang]

Do a search for weak tierods on the new Bronco's... Tierods are also a weak point on many other vehicles, and always require upgrades, usually before something like in the video is even attempted. Hells Gate at Moab is hard on any truck/ suv, like real hard. People are taking a worse case scenerio, then jumping to conclusions and then second guessing a purchase of the Rivian based off it. This even though they have no intention of ever driving on something so difficult... crazy!!!

 

[MountainBikeDude]

Yeah, this isn’t great news if we want to go off-road.



That looks like a great solution, but is there a risk of breaking something else?

I could be wrong, but I think of the tie rods as being sacrificial in that they break first to prevent damaging more expensive parts of the suspension and steering gear. Kind of like the physical version of an electrical fuse, but requiring a lot more labor to replace than swapping a fuse. Of course, even if we took the precaution of bringing extra tie rods with us, being on a trail could make replacement challenging or impossible.

But then what breaks...the rack? Beef up something and the next weak link down the line will break instead...and likely something more expensive.

In this instance, and another that we saw of a tie rod snapping on a Red R1T, I would argue they could be reinforced even to a minor degree without resulting in other components being broken.

It also depends on how you drive it, If you're smacking a curb at a high rate of speed, I'd expect it to break, but slowly moving along a trail and the wheel catches something slightly off angle, I'd be inclined to reinforce that component just in case.

People mod vehicles all the time, to make them more "off-road worthy" this is no different. It would likely still break along the tie rod somewhere before the rack was damaged, but when you off road you have to expect damage to happen to some degree otherwise your fun level isn't as high as it could be!

 

[Andystroh]

extra tie rods are something people carry right? Maybe it's worth getting an extra even if you need a recovery company to help with the repairs?

 

[SoCal Rob]

People are taking a worse case scenerio, then jumping to conclusions and then second guessing a purchase of the Rivian based off it. This even though they have no intention of ever driving on something so difficult... crazy!!!

Are people actually second-guessing their Rivian purchase because of an issue someone had on a difficult trail, especially when they don't know how aggressively the driver was before the failure? I plan to just keep this in mind as a possibility and be more aware when rock crawling.

 

[COdogman]

Yeah, this isn’t great news if we want to go off-road.



That looks like a great solution, but is there a risk of breaking something else?

I could be wrong, but I think of the tie rods as being sacrificial in that they break first to prevent damaging more expensive parts of the suspension and steering gear. Kind of like the physical version of an electrical fuse, but requiring a lot more labor to replace than swapping a fuse. Of course, even if we took the precaution of bringing extra tie rods with us, being on a trail could make replacement challenging or impossible.

That’s how I have always thought of them -as *somewhat* sacrificial. Breaking one on Hell’s Gate is not that strange, but I thought another one posted here was not anything like that - although we never saw pictures. We probably need much more data before we get too critical.

Being able to carry 2(?!) spares along with on a Moab trip would probably help one sleep better.

 

[MountainBikeDude]

That is crazy. Sure seems like we are hearing about more of these tie rod issues. They do look pretty wimpy for a truck this heavy.

I was looking at the tie rods on the Hummer EV and they're very similar, so Rivian isn't alone, just depends on how much you push a stock tie rod.

 

[Ripped]

Just like other vehicles, the aftermarket will offer up a series of more robust components for serious offroaders as the vehicles get more popular/produced.

AND like racing, once you get out there and apply stresses to vehicles, you are going to break things. It's pretty normal.

I broke a drag link 4x4ing. Broke drive shafts, axles, engines, transmissions, racing.

Probably an upgraded rack/ and steering components are required along with maybe a stabilizer shock. Winch bumper, HD Tow hooks

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