During the installation of the Scout Dana 44 axles and later with the Wagoneer Dana 44 front axle, I decided that the Scout tie rod and drag link would not be used.  My decision to use the CJ outer knuckles meant that the ball joints of the Scout Tie Rod were too large for the CJ knuckle.  Additionally the Scout Dana 44 front axle was wider than any stock CJ axle and I would need a wider tie rod and a slightly longer drag link. 

First Attempt - the Hack Job
The first attempt of a new tie rod was to modify an existing tie rod by cutting the ends off, inserting them into a 1.25 inch 1/4" wall tube and welding the ends onto the rod at the right length for my modified Scout Dana 44 front axle.  This option worked good for a while.  For the drag link, I extended a stock CJ-7 wider track drag link further, about as far as I wanted to safely go with it.  The only problem I ran into was the clearance of the tie rod to the 44's differential cover on a hard turn.  This was addressed by a little grinding out of the area where the tie rod contacted the diff cover.

	Welding the modified tie rod
To address clearance, a small amount of material was grinded off one side of the rod at both sides of full lock.  This force me to align the rod facing one way, but it worked while I used it.

At this time I did a tie rod flip, using a CJ Tie Rod Flip Kit by Rock Equipment, adding 3" inches of clearance to the tie rod and the lower end of the drag link.  Flipping the tie rods also leveled the drag link more, greatly reducing any chance of bump-steer.

It was a nice attempt at a cheap, yet heavy duty tie rod but it was obvious that I was going to get something after market.  Primarily I felt that the drag link was weak but the fact that I couldn't precisely adjust my toe-in meant I really wasn't happy with the hack job.

I contacted OK 4 Wheel Drive in Stewartsville NJ and talked to Mike there.  He suggested SRC Precision Products Xtreme Steering Rods.  They'll make any custom   size with heavy duty ball joints or hemi joints and the rods are available in 1.125 and 1.375 inch thicknesses.   I chose the 1.375 wall and specified the width from ball joint center to ball joint center of both the drag link and tie rod while the Jeeps front axle was aligned.

The installation of Xtreme Heavy Duty Rods was as straight forward as it gets. I just popped the ball joints out and dropped the new ones in, adjusting the length to drop it in without moving the tires or steering.

Thoughts on the Xtreme Heavy Duty Rods
made by SRC Precision Products LLC

After several hard years of wheeling on everything form boulders at Rausch Creek and Paragon to thick mud to river crossings and more, the tie rods are the last thing I worry about.  I've whacked them on rocks often enough (not really knowing I did it) to have scraps and gouges in them but they have not bent, dented, deformed or failed.  The align is adjusted by a large jam nut threaded onto the ball joints threads, that locks down onto the rod itself instead of the clamps that were used in stock CJ or Scout tie rods.  The nuts have never loosed and the alignment as stayed true.  It was nice to able to custom design my own setup for this application rather than buy an off the shelf stock rod.  They also have several kits to choose from.  Overall a great investment.