Barnes tie rod length

Braxtonsag

Braxtonsag

Member
Does anyone have the Barnes aluminum tie rod and can measure the length of the aluminum bar for me? I’m looking at buying the Barnes 1 ton links and having wide open designs custom make me a bar I just don’t know what length to go with.

Another guy on here said 53” is about perfect on an older thread but after measuring my stock tie rod 53” seems way too short.
 
rmilobrown

rmilobrown

Member
I have the Barnes 1-1/2" aluminum tie rod with 1 ton ends. Aluminum measures 53". Span is approximate 58"center to center of the tie rod posts. 1 ton ends screwed in 1-3/4" of the 2" useable threds gets you the 58". Hope that helps.
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
How on gods green earth (if you believe in god. It’s a saying) does this make absolutely any sense? Buy the tie rod from the person that you want to steal the design of.


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jesse3638

jesse3638

Hooked
rmilobrown said:
Hey Overlander, I must of missed something! Please fill me in.
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Rather than just buy the whole tie rod from the manufacturer he wants to buy the ends and have a 3rd party complete the tie rod. Unless that company no longer makes the aluminum bar it makes more sense to just buy the aluminum bar from the original manufacturer.

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Braxtonsag

Braxtonsag

Member
OverlanderJK said:
How on gods green earth (if you believe in god. It’s a saying) does this make absolutely any sense? Buy the tie rod from the person that you want to steal the design of.


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I would hardly call having an aluminum shaft cut, drilled, and tapped stealing the design... I supported them by buying their ends. I can source a bar made of the same exact materials for over $100 less elsewhere.
 
TheGrendel

TheGrendel

Active Member
Braxtonsag said:
I would hardly call having an aluminum shaft cut, drilled, and tapped stealing the design... I supported them by buying their ends. I can source a bar made of the same exact materials for over $100 less elsewhere.
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yea, i don't see anything wrong with what you're doing. if you know a place that can knock out a reputable piece for cheaper, then why not.
 
Braxtonsag

Braxtonsag

Member
TheGrendel said:
yea, i don't see anything wrong with what you're doing. if you know a place that can knock out a reputable piece for cheaper, then why not.
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I mean it’s honestly just a length of 7075 shaft cut to size, drilled, tapped, and wrench flats machined on. At what point does it just become price gouging when Barnes ends are only $55 shipped yet the tie rod assembly is $300. You can’t tell me a 53” section of aluminum and a sticker is worth $245
 
TheGrendel

TheGrendel

Active Member
Braxtonsag said:
I mean it’s honestly just a length of 7075 shaft cut to size, drilled, tapped, and wrench flats machined on. At what point does it just become price gouging when Barnes ends are only $55 shipped yet the tie rod assembly is $300. You can’t tell me a 53” section of aluminum and a sticker is worth $245
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you're right. i can't tell you that because i honestly don't how much a 53inch section of aluminum would cost. :cheesy:
 
Braxtonsag

Braxtonsag

Member
TheGrendel said:
you're right. i can't tell you that because i honestly don't how much a 53inch section of aluminum would cost. :cheesy:
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Well on wide open designs they only charge $125 fully machined. They’re a reputable company that specializes in tube chassis crawlers. This is where someone at Barnes marketing needs to take note. It’s not that their tie rod assembly isn’t worth $300, but when you have options like this out there it’s not a competitive price point. If they were made of different materials and the Barnes was far superior it would be a completely different story but that’s not the case.
 
Exodus 4x4

Exodus 4x4

New member
Braxtonsag said:
Well on wide open designs they only charge $125 fully machined. They’re a reputable company that specializes in tube chassis crawlers. This is where someone at Barnes marketing needs to take note.
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Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not that simple. There’s a lot more to it than simply just machining a piece of aluminum and screwing some pieces together. It’s a business and unfortunately requires overhead. You think you’ve figured out some mystic secret? Take your idea and start selling it to people for the price you’ve concluded it’s worth and see how successful you become. Barnes’s, RPM fab, myself, and whoever else is making these tie rods aren’t making a ton of money doing it.

Like I said, don’t take that the wrong way. Just simply pointing out that when you build something and sell it, you have to cover your expenses and hopefully at the end of the day make a few bucks. 7075 aluminum and the tools/time to machine it properly aren’t cheap, not to mention all the rest of the overhead involved in running the business around that piece.


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WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
Exodus Jeeps said:
Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not that simple. There’s a lot more to it than simply just machining a piece of aluminum and screwing some pieces together. It’s a business and unfortunately requires overhead. You think you’ve figured out some mystic secret? Take your idea and start selling it to people for the price you’ve concluded it’s worth and see how successful you become. Barnes’s, RPM fab, myself, and whoever else is making these tie rods aren’t making a ton of money doing it.

Like I said, don’t take that the wrong way. Just simply pointing out that when you build something and sell it, you have to cover your expenses and hopefully at the end of the day make a few bucks. 7075 aluminum and the tools/time to machine it properly aren’t cheap, not to mention all the rest of the overhead involved in running the business around that piece.


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Nailed it.
 
Seahawkfan

Seahawkfan

Hooked
Braxtonsag said:
Well on wide open designs they only charge $125 fully machined. They’re a reputable company that specializes in tube chassis crawlers. This is where someone at Barnes marketing needs to take note. It’s not that their tie rod assembly isn’t worth $300, but when you have options like this out there it’s not a competitive price point. If they were made of different materials and the Barnes was far superior it would be a completely different story but that’s not the case.
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Just curious as to why Wide Open Designs wouldn't know the answer to your original question?
 
jesse3638

jesse3638

Hooked
Exodus Jeeps said:
Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not that simple. There’s a lot more to it than simply just machining a piece of aluminum and screwing some pieces together. It’s a business and unfortunately requires overhead. You think you’ve figured out some mystic secret? Take your idea and start selling it to people for the price you’ve concluded it’s worth and see how successful you become. Barnes’s, RPM fab, myself, and whoever else is making these tie rods aren’t making a ton of money doing it.

Like I said, don’t take that the wrong way. Just simply pointing out that when you build something and sell it, you have to cover your expenses and hopefully at the end of the day make a few bucks. 7075 aluminum and the tools/time to machine it properly aren’t cheap, not to mention all the rest of the overhead involved in running the business around that piece.


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Exactly my point as well. You articulated it much better and with the perspective of a business owner.

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Braxtonsag

Braxtonsag

Member
Seahawkfan said:
Just curious as to why Wide Open Designs wouldn't know the answer to your original question?
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They're not in the market of producing parts for specific models, they do custom fabrication. One of the things they happen to fabricate is custom length tie rod bars but they expect the customer to supply length.

fiend said:
But if I can save 10 bucks ....


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its not $10 though, at $10 id be more than happy to buy the assembled rod. Its literally over 1/3 of the price I'm saving taking the DIY route.

Exodus Jeeps said:
Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s not that simple. There’s a lot more to it than simply just machining a piece of aluminum and screwing some pieces together. It’s a business and unfortunately requires overhead. You think you’ve figured out some mystic secret? Take your idea and start selling it to people for the price you’ve concluded it’s worth and see how successful you become. Barnes’s, RPM fab, myself, and whoever else is making these tie rods aren’t making a ton of money doing it.

Like I said, don’t take that the wrong way. Just simply pointing out that when you build something and sell it, you have to cover your expenses and hopefully at the end of the day make a few bucks. 7075 aluminum and the tools/time to machine it properly aren’t cheap, not to mention all the rest of the overhead involved in running the business around that piece.


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Click to expand...

I take no offense to that at all and completely understand where you are coming from. Having ran my own small business i know all too well the cost of overhead on equipment, etc. At the same time though, i never once said what Barnes needed to be selling their products for. i completely get that they need to cover the cost of labor, tooling, equipment, materials, shipping, keeping the lights on, as well as profiting a bit to make it worth their while.

I’m not putting these together and selling them because I don’t care to. I’m not in the business to dip my hands into others wallet. Simply building a tie rod for my own build on a budget. No different from anyone cutting factory fenders rather than just buying aftermarket. You do what works for you. If I asked someone critical dimensions for a heavily engineered part and copied that I could see an argument but were talking about a drilled and tapped bar of aluminum here(that i only asked for help on length that is known to work).

At the end of the day, I don't think I'm committing some big sin by basically buying tie rod ends from a fabrication supplier and a rod of aluminum from another fabrication supplier and putting them together to use on my own build. If some of you disagree, then i guess we will have to agree to disagree.
 
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