Length: 7:58
Created: October 14, 2020
What’s up guys? Do you have a worn out or broken set of tie rods on your Can-Am Defender? Well SuperATV has the fix with their Heavy-Duty Tie Rod Kit, and today we’re going to show you how to get them installed.
First, remove the front wheels and tires. Then we’ll remove the tie rod from the knuckle. We’ll use a 13 mm socket and a 15 mm wrench for the nut. Remove the nut, the bolt, and then the tie rod. Then slide down the clamp on the boot. Snip the wire or zip tie that’s on the inner portion of the boot. Now slide the whole boot down.
Get a pipe wrench and spin the inner ball and socket loose. Once it’s loose, you should be able to completely unthread it just by grabbing the tie rod bar. Repeat this step for the opposite side.
[02:20] Next, take the inner ball and socket out of the tie rod kit. Remove the nut and set it aside. Now get the boots out. The small boot is for the passenger side and the big boot is for the driver’s side.
Now apply some blue thread locker to the inner ball and socket, then thread it into the rack and pinion. Go ahead and fully tighten it using your pipe wrench or a 30 mm wrench. Just get it as tight as possible.
Slide this back in and turn the wheel to make it easier to get your boot on. Since we’re doing the driver’s side first, we’ll use the big boot. Slide it on and make sure it’s fully seated on the rack. Then use the provided zip ties to secure the boot. Make sure the inner and outer zip ties are both nice and tight and cut off any excess.
Now take the nut that we removed earlier and reinstall it on the inner ball and socket. Run it all the way up. Then take the tie rod bar. Make sure this knurled section is towards the outside. Thread it into the inner ball and socket, then grab the outer tie rod end.
Do the same thing with this nut and run it all the way up. Now thread in the tie rod end. This will be left hand threaded.
Now we’re going to find our center point on the rack by turning the wheel. Then we want to make sure the rotor is as square as we can get it. It doesn’t have to be perfect right now because we’ll be setting our toe later.
With the tie rod end fully installed, grab the misalignment bushings. One goes on the top and one goes on the bottom just like that. Grab the hardware and get the tie rod end lined up with the knuckle. You can adjust the tie rod to help get it lined up. Your bolt should drop through easily and you can fully the nuts here. Just leave the jam nuts on the tie rods loose.
Once it’s fully tightened, you can install the provided cotter pins. Just slide them through and fold the pin around.
Then repeat all these steps for the opposite side.
[06:11] Once you have both sides installed, it’s time to reinstall your wheels and tires, then set the machine down, get the suspension settled, and set your toe.
With the machine on the ground, we’re going to settle the suspension. We’ll just roll it back and forth three to five times. Then we’ll make sure the steering wheel is straight and measure from center line to center line on the front of the tires and then the back of the tires.
In the front of the tires it looks like we’re at 54 inches. On the backs it looks like we’re at 54 again, so we’re good to go.
If you had to make any adjustments you’d just want to twist your tie rods to make adjustments from side to side. After that, just lock your jam nuts, and that’s all there is to it.
For more information on these tie rods or any of SuperATV’s great products, feel free to give us a call at 855-743-3427 or check us out online at SuperATV.com. Thanks for watching and we’ll catch you next time.
