TR4/4A Steering rack clearance

[Popeye]

My main worry ... being sure I remembered to tighten everything I loosened back down. When I think I am done I put a wrench to everything one last time to make sure it is tight.

I share this worry! I bought some of that blue paint from McMaster Carr - "Cross Check Torque Seal". I use this in critical areas; i.e. not the oil drain plug, but definitely on components that will hurt me if they fail at speed. Quick dab does the trick. Does not need to be neat!

 

[TR3driver]

FWIW, I dug out a TR6 Haynes and I still don't see that torque figure listed. Couldn't find an edition number, but the copyright notice says 74, 78 and 87. Maybe the wrong number was removed from later manuals?
https://imgur.com/80VdH0M

Triumph made a lot of production changes, even during model years, so it's dangerous (IMO) to assume that anything is "the same". Less true of the later cars, but especially on the TR3, much of the workshop manual information was changed later on.

It's up to you, but I suggest you think about what could happen if that joint fails at the wrong moment, say when you're blowing down the freeway and some giant SUV tries to change lanes on top of you. If that doesn't bother you, I suggest taking a new, non-Nyloc 1/2 NF nut and spinning it down the tie rod stud by hand. If it goes easily all the way to the bottom of the threads, they aren't appreciably distorted and the tie rod end is probably usable. But if not, the threads have already started to fail, and I would not reuse them on a safety-critical item.

I am using the Haynes TR250 - TR6 1967-1976 manual. Page 192. On something like this procedures and specs should be the same. But I do have a TR4 -TR4A shop manual as well. It seems easier to find and easier to understand the Haynes manual so I often just go to it. I believe the angle caused by no weight on the frame caused problems but it appears I simply over-torqued and stripped the stud or nut. What do you guys think if I put on fresh nuts and if they reached proper torque (say 26-28ft lbs) without problem go ahead and use these tie rods? They look correct just like in Steve's picture above.