Tie Rod Ends (again)

[ChuckW]

Years ago, I replaced the tie rod ends on my 52 M38. I have no idea where I got them, but they are the 11/16" ends and they fit my tie rod tubes just fine, but the problem is, when I tighten the castle nuts down, they are below the cotter pin hole. Not just one end, but all 4. The tapered part of the ends seem to be tight in all the bores. I vaguely remember reading something about this, but, hey, I'm old and I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday.
I can machine some spacers to go under the nuts to raise them up so a cotter pin will work, but that does not seem correct. What say ye?

[RonD2]

Hi Chuck,
How much is it off?

Assuming you don't have mis-matched, defective, (or worse) chinese junk parts, I poked around a bit looking for "extra tall slotted castle nuts" in 1/2-20NF but nothing popped up.

Maybe thread on a thin hex jam nut under your slotted nut to enable a cotter pin hole?

Might be better than making a spacer or using washers?

I searched for old forum posts on the topic but couldn't find anything useful. Maybe I missed it.

Steering is nothing to take chances with.

Good luck!

[ChuckW]

Thanks, Ron. In these photos, the castle nuts look short, but they are normal size. Pretty sure these ends came off of e-bay, Crown or Indian junk. I have ordered a set from JMP, will see how they look.

JMP is out of the 640178 long center joint, everything else I can find is made in India.

[ChuckW]

I decided to take my old tie rod ends off (left) and this is what I found. I compared them to some old MB ends (right) that I had, should be the same.
I don't know where I got these, but they are definitely incorrect!

I did find a NOS 640178 at AJP

[RonD2]

Glad to hear you got it sorted out.

[ChuckW]

Back together with the correct tie rod ends.