Anyone ever have probs with moog tie rod ends?

Blivitt02 · Post by **Blivitt02** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:28 am

I'm in the middle of doing inner and outer tie rod ends on my sisters 02 neon, went with moog inner and outer, firm feel on the innner. I got everything on last night and there was a huge amount of toe in, I tried to adjust the toe and bottomed the adjustment out. So I took one side back out and compared to stock and the inner tie rod end is an inch longer than stock, and the outer tie rod end threads are about an inch shallower (Is that a word?

) so I can't get the car even close to neutral toe. I checked the part numbers and they are all correct. Has anyone else run into this? I will try to get pictures up tonight, I dont know if I am going to cut the inner tie rods down or if I am going to try different parts (if I can even return these)

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:53 am

A few things can be at work here. When you say the numbers are correct, how do you know? Did the parts person check, or did you? You said you went with the firm-feel listing...does the car have firm-feel? There is always the possibility of a mis-boxed part.

The inner tie rod ends are different depending on the rack in the car. My guess is you are trying to use the wrong inner end. If you want to, PM me the last 9 digits of the VIN and I can confirm what type of rack is in the car.

Blivitt02 · Post by **Blivitt02** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:13 pm

I crossed the number on the box with advanced auto (where I got them) and a few other places, they all seemed to come up the same for the car. Firm-feel (afaik) was not offered from the factory, moog offers it as an option, it should only affect the joint, not the shaft. I'm hoping its a mis-boxed part, but i doubt it as I am doing both sides and they were both too long. I was under the impression that there were 3 racks, first being the standard ps rack, then the r/t/acr rack, and lastly the srt rack. I dont have the vin off hand but it is a 2002 ES and it is bone stock, none of the steering components have ever been touched.

Danteneon wrote:A few things can be at work here. When you say the numbers are correct, how do you know? Did the parts person check, or did you? You said you went with the firm-feel listing...does the car have firm-feel? There is always the possibility of a mis-boxed part.

The inner tie rod ends are different depending on the rack in the car. My guess is you are trying to use the wrong inner end. If you want to, PM me the last 9 digits of the VIN and I can confirm what type of rack is in the car.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:20 pm

Not quite. There are 4 different racks (well, 3 for 2002). Standard, Firm-feel, R/T &ACR, and SRT (on 2003-up).

The Moog listing isn't an option, it is asking if the rack is a firm-feel rack or not. The inner tie rods are different depending on the rack. I believe that is were your problem lies. You can't install a firm-feel rod on a non firm-feel rack for the reasons you have discovered.

What part # did you use? EV403 or EV404?

Blivitt02 · Post by **Blivitt02** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:01 pm

I used the EV403 (firm feel) So I guess there would be my problem. Which trims came with the firm feel rack?

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 2:36 pm

It would vary depending on how the car was optioned. I would think that the ES would have firm-feel, but not always. The VIN would tell me for sure.

latief · Post by **latief** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:31 pm

I used the regular (non firm ) moog inner on my 2000 with no problems whatsoever ........

Blivitt02 · Post by **Blivitt02** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:40 pm

Thanks for the insight, I will let you know how it goes

Blivitt02 · Post by **Blivitt02** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:26 am

Got the standard Ball joints and everything went together really well. Thanks guys