Tie Rods - 380 and 450

[dentmac]

Good Morning,
Someone with a 450 or 380 will soon need tie rods.

For the 450, you need the "New" version
You "SHOULD" have those presently - by Bluebird records 4 units were not completely altered - one was exempted from the recall.
If you have a 380 and want/have a 16,000 axle, you should have the new design.
The present tie rods fail with high mileage at 16,000.
The method used to upgrade (read "restate") the 450 to 17,000 was to change the tierods and reduce the testing criteria by 1/2 as the logic is that a motorhome does not need the life expectancy of the transit bus.

Either we need the product numbers of the "new" vs "Old" tierods or
simply pictures as they should be visually different.
The 380's have the "Old" The 450s "New"
Pictures please. Perhaps David can organise for us.
Thank you,
Ross

(06-13-2013 22:56)cmillsap Wrote:  It should be noted here that the IFS used on the 380 & 450 is no longer being made. I don't know if components such as tie rods are still obtainable, particularly if you may need an upgraded tie rod from the original. I do know that the ball joints were nowhere to be found until a few of the M380 & M450 owners comvinced Meritor to make some more. They said they would but I don't know if they ever did or not.

If I were still a M380 owner, I would certainly be checking to see if all the IFS components are still available.