Steering Issues

I almost hate to admit this, but I will to keep anyone from doing what I did.

I have been having an issue with the steering on my RZR. Never could get the toe right and the steering just wanted to wonder. This caused the steering wheel to get ripped out of my hands very often while trail riding and it caused it to jump from one side of the road to the other. This past weekend I wanted to look at a buddies RZR's front bearings. We pulled it up and jacked it up. His bearings were not loose like mine and niether was his tie rods. That is when I found my problem. His is just about new and mine is a year old. I noticed on the S that they placed the tie rods on the bottom of the connection point. I had placed it on the top after my complete RZR rebuild (after my crash).

So, always place the tie rods on the bottom of the connection not on the top like I did.

Glad you got it worked out......

I did the exact same thing a while back when I had to replace the front sprague. The rzr was apart for a long time waiting on the new sprague and when I finally got it all put together, I put put the tie rods on top too. It didn't steer right and it drove me nuts trying to figure out why. I only figured it out after looking at another rzr.

I've help other buddies of mine put in front axles and spragues and its kind of funny to watch when they go put it back together because half the time they will put the rods on top and I will tell them it goes on bottom and they argue. I always win that arguement.

I bet you and me aren't the only ones to put them on top. It just looks like thats were they are suppose to go.

Yeah, I am in the camp that think it is only smrt to put them on top. If the pin, nut, or bolt come loose I would have a better chance of not flipping end over end.

I am glad to here I was not the only one. Hell, I was embarrassed to even post it on rzrfourms.net. I figured I would just be called stupid and never get an answer.

I also had mine apart for a very long time (five months) building a new cage, replacing the frame and front suspension. I even took pictures to help me get it all back together. I did even look at the tie rods, just thought I was right. I have just recently had friends get an RZR, so I did not have one to look at. Talk about me feeling very stupid when I seen it.

Hope others read this and never do it. The steering will really mess with your head.

Just left the dealer. I found that the standard RZR and the S both place the tie rods on the bottom, but the RZR4 places them on top! Talk about crazy!

The tech told me that the RZR and RZR-S both come with 12" wheels. This prevents them from engineering it to have the tie rods on top. The RZR4 comes with 14" wheels and it is engineered to have them on top. He said the rack on the RZR4 is just a bit higher in position then the other two and that is the reason I had issues. He said when you place them on top it changes the machanical advantage the rack has (making it less). This causes the wheels/tires to over power the steering wheel.

Makes sense to me, I was thinking it was something like that anyway.

Triel wrote:

Just left the dealer. I found that the standard RZR and the S both place the tie rods on the bottom, but the RZR4 places them on top! Talk about crazy!

The tech told me that the RZR and RZR-S both come with 12" wheels. This prevents them from engineering it to have the tie rods on top. The RZR4 comes with 14" wheels and it is engineered to have them on top. He said the rack on the RZR4 is just a bit higher in position then the other two and that is the reason I had issues. He said when you place them on top it changes the machanical advantage the rack has (making it less). This causes the wheels/tires to over power the steering wheel.

Makes sense to me, I was thinking it was something like that anyway.

The guy was wrong, all previous years of the RZR and all 2011 rzr's regular and S model and both 4 models even the eps model come with 12'' wheels. And i have never seen a tie rod put on top of any rzr from the factory.

SPECIFICATIONS
RANGER RZR® 4 800 EPS ROBBY GORDON
STARTING AT: $18,999 CN MSRP / NON-EPS VERSION STARTING AT $17,999 U.S. MSRP

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ENGINE | DRIVETRAIN | SUSPENSION | BRAKES | TIRES WHEELS
DIMENSIONS | CAPACITIES | FEATURES

Engine
Engine Type 4-Stroke Twin Cylinder
Displacement 760cc High Output (H.O.)
Fuel System Electronic Fuel Injection
Cooling Liquid
Drivetrain
Transmission/Final Drive Automatic PVT P/R/N/L/H; Shaft
Drive System On-Demand True AWD/2WD
Suspension
Front Suspension Dual A-Arm 12" (30.5 cm) Travel
Rear Suspension Dual A-Arm, Rolled with Anti-Sway Bar 12" (30.5 cm) Travel
Brakes
Front/Rear Brakes 4-Wheel Hydraulic Disc with Dual-Bore Front Calipers
Parking Brake Park in Transmission
Tires Wheels
Front Tires / Model 26 x 9-12; Maxxis Bighorn
Rear Tires / Model 26 x 12-12; Maxxis Bighorn
Wheels Cast Aluminum
Dimensions
Wheelbase 103.0" (261.6 cm)
Dry Weight 1,255 lbs. (569.3 kg)
Overall Vehicle Size (LxWxH) 130 x 60.5 x 75" (330.2 x 153.7 x 190.5 cm)
Ground Clearance 11.5" (29.2 cm)
Capacities
Fuel Capacity 7.25 gal (27.4 L)
Bed Box Dimensions (LxWxH) 22 x 42 x 6.5" (56 x 107 x 16.5 cm)
Box Capacity N.A./300 lb (136.1 kg)
Payload Capacity 900 lb (408.2 kg)
Hitch Towing Rating 1,500 lb (680.4 kg)
Hitch/Type Standard/1.25" Receiver
Features
Cargo System Lock & Ride
Lighting 55W low/ 60W high
Electronic Power Steering Equipped
Instrumentation Digital Gauge, Speedometer, Odometer, Tachometer, Tripmeter, Hour Meter, Clock, Gear Indicator, Fuel Gauge, Hi-Temp/Low-Batt Lights, DC Outlets (2)

I looked at three of them in the lot and the RZR4 was only one that has them on top. I will have to look at more of them to see. They may just have put the 4 together wrong.

Sounds like somebody did something wrong, as you can see in this pic of a rzr 4 the tie rod comes up from the bottom same as all the other rzr's.


If your worried about the end going bad and falling off, just jack it up after every ride and wiggle the front wheel you can tell then if it has play in one. It will not fail quickly it takes a long time.

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I think Triels main point was to warn us not to do what he and I did by putting the rods on top. It will literally drive you insane trying to figure out whats going on with your steering and I wouldn't want anybody to go thru that experience either.

But one thing to remember is that if you see a rzr with the rods on top, dont jump the gun to tell them they are on wrong because a few people put them there on purpose -mostly those with big lifts. By being on top the tierod doesn't get stressed when the suspension drops. I dont know how they rectify their steering ,but some do put them on top for a reason. But I think all stock rzrs from the factory are on bottom.

jerrzr wrote:

I think Triels main point was to warn us not to do what he and I did by putting the rods on top. It will literally drive you insane trying to figure out whats going on with your steering and I wouldn't want anybody to go thru that experience either.

But one thing to remember is that if you see a rzr with the rods on top, dont jump the gun to tell them they are on wrong because a few people put them there on purpose -mostly those with big lifts. By being on top the tierod doesn't get stressed when the suspension drops. I dont know how they rectify their steering ,but some do put them on top for a reason. But I think all stock rzrs from the factory are on bottom.

I have seen them on top, but it was in aftermarket long travel kits or extreme lifts.

I am not sure what they could do to fix it either. I purchased one of those steering stabilizers to try and fix it, it did not work and I actually bent the end of the stablizer and had to bend it back.

On RZR Fourms.net they talked about doing it with after market racks. That makes sense if the rack is built for it then it would be smart. According to them it makes the turning radious smaller.