Steering tie rod end made of steel and method of manufacturing the same

A method of manufacturing a steel tie rod end, comprising:

• a forming process of forming a tie rod end intermediate that includes a prospective shaft portion, a prospective first fitting portion continuous with a prospective first end portion of the prospective shaft portion in a longitudinal direction of the prospective shaft portion and a prospective second fitting portion continuous with a prospective second end portion of the prospective shaft portion in a longitudinal direction of the prospective shaft portion;
• a quenching process of applying high-frequency quenching to the prospective shaft portion of the tie rod end intermediate and then cooling the prospective shaft portion;
• and
• a machining process of machining at least one of the first fitting portion and the second fitting portion, wherein:
• in the forming process, a prospective minimum area portion is formed between the prospective first end portion and the prospective second end portion in the prospective shaft portion so that a radially cross-sectional area of the prospective minimum area portion is 80% or below of a radially cross-sectional area of the prospective first end portion and 80% or below of a radially cross-sectional area of the prospective second end portion;
• and
• in the quenching process, only the prospective shaft portion is heated by high frequency to an austenitizing temperature and then rapidly cooled by water or cooling medium.