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

[MountainBikeDude]

My YouTube mechanic/engineer/dry wit source has touched on this.

The whole video is worth watching, but here's where he talks about not getting beefier tie rods.

Great video! In ideal circumstances I guess you could carry a spare tie rod and the necessary tools, but Rivian already has me winging it without a spare tire, so why not just live on the edge and just hope nothing will break when going off the beaten path.

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[s4wrxttcs]

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.

I imagine for quite a few of us the off-road capabilities were a nice to have, but wasn't a major factor.

With that being said those of like myself who tried the off-road capabilities likely enjoyed the experience enough to want to it some more.

The experiences of others will likely weigh on our own decisions of what to attempt or what to wait and see on.

For myself I might take my Jeep Wrangler Moab edition instead. It's not necessarily that I'm convinced it will be more durable, but that in the event that something breaks it will be easier/cheaper to fix.

If I was an off-roader I wouldn't have picked that Jeep. It was just all around what I wanted just like the Rivian R1T is all-around what I wanted. Well aside from air suspension as I'm not a fan of that.

 

[VSG]

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

Breaking a tie rod is a standard hazard of off roading. I don't care what vehicle you drive. Carrying an extra tie rod is also on pretty much every list I've ever seen of things to bring with you when you're off roading.

Several years ago my buddy and I were driving the Naches trail in WA in his Jeep Grand Cherokee when we came upon a couple of lifted Wranglers with all the extras that were stranded in the middle of the trail with a broken tie rod. They had their hi-lift jack to raise the vehicle, and had their chainsaw out to cut a round out of a log to serve as a jack stand. They had their welder to make a temporary fix to the tie rod. And they had all their extra gas cans. (But most of their cargo was cases of Bud light ...) Because there was no way around them we had to wait, in my buddy's completely stock Cherokee, while they fixed their tie rod. We declined the offer of Bud light (I admit, I'm a beer snob), and completed the trail with absolutely no damage.

Point is, the tie rods are vulnerable, but the way you drive is the largest factor in breaking things.

 

[VSG]

My YouTube mechanic/engineer/dry wit source has touched on this.

My favorite line from that video:
"This might be partially my fault?"

 

[VSG]

Actually, there are a LOT of good lines in that video:

"My spotter was at the top, telling me which direction to go, and I was in the driver's seat mashing the throttle and ignoring most of his input."

LOL. That's pretty much every off-roading experience I've ever had.

 

[SoCal Rob]

I imagine for quite a few of us the off-road capabilities were a nice to have, but wasn't a major factor.

With that being said those of like myself who tried the off-road capabilities likely enjoyed the experience enough to want to it some more.

The experiences of others will likely weigh on our own decisions of what to attempt or what to wait and see on.

For myself I might take my Jeep Wrangler Moab edition instead. It's not necessarily that I'm convinced it will be more durable, but that in the event that something breaks it will be easier/cheaper to fix.

If I was an off-roader I wouldn't have picked that Jeep. It was just all around what I wanted just like the Rivian R1T is all-around what I wanted. Well aside from air suspension as I'm not a fan of that.

For us, off-road capability is a requirement since we own some land which requires a high clearance vehicle to access. Everything we do beyond that, up to and including rock crawling, is to get to a cool destination or to have a fun drive. While I’m sure challenging the vehicle just because may be fun for others, we aren’t looking for trouble.

Our current off-roader is a Land Rover LR3 which is more than up to the task and has surprised quite a few Jeep and Toyota people on trails because they never expected to see such a thing doing more off-roading than jumping the curb in a mall parking lot. The air suspension is a defining feature of the vehicle and I wouldn’t want a highway road trip + off road adventure vehicle without a height adjustable suspension. For a dedicated off-roader which gets towed to the trail head I’d want to skip the air suspension, like you.

Point is, the tie rods are vulnerable, but the way you drive is the largest factor in breaking things.

I’m glad to read that since we spend a lot of time exploring in the desert and we always keep in mind that we need our vehicle to get us to our destination through an environment that can kill us… in an area where cell phone coverage is unlikely. Since we need it to get us home, we have no problem with going the route of, “Slow and steady wins the race.” and trying a different approach if it looks like we’re likely to break something or tip over. We‘ve probably driven at least 10,000 miles out of the last 139,000 off pavement and we haven’t damaged the suspension yet.

 

[WattTruckMatt]

Rivian just now called me. I'll be picking up my spare tie rod next week at the local service center.

She couldn't tell me the price as only the service center will have that info... but now I'm scared

 

[SoCal Rob]

Rivian just now called me. I'll be picking up my spare tie rod next week at the local service center.

She couldn't tell me the price as only the service center will have that info... but now I'm scared

Please keep us posted with price and part number. Sone of us may want to add one to our off-road kit.

 

[WattTruckMatt]

Please keep us posted with price and part number. Sone of us may want to add one to our off-road kit.

Will do. Picking it up Monday afternoon.

 

[WattTruckMatt]

Please keep us posted with price and part number. Sone of us may want to add one to our off-road kit.

Inner and outer tie rods have been picked up. There’s definitely a “Rivian tax” added to these parts.

Both sides are the same. These are Rivian specific but the service tech figures Moog or someone similar will come out with their own replacement parts at some point.

 

[jjswan33]

Inner and outer tie rods have been picked up. There’s definitely a “Rivian tax” added to these parts.

Both sides are the same. These are Rivian specific but the service tech figures Moog or someone similar will come out with their own replacement parts at some point.

Now that you have them you will never need them

Thanks for sharing though, I might just have to ask for the same.

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