inner tie rod bad or...?

Neon4Life · Post by **Neon4Life** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 12:02 pm

so ive been trying to track down a clunking problem that I can feel under my feet/gas pedal area when turning slowly or going over a bump. I finally tracked it down to a bad inner tie rod.. I just changed both inner and out rods on both sides 7 weeks ago and now my driver side one is bad..

does anyone know why they go bad..

or can it be something inside the rack that's bad and making that sound..? I just read a thread where someone said maybe something inside the rack is bad because when they changed theirs the clunk still was there. idk what to do.

Post by **occasional demons** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 12:39 pm

The bushing that the rack slides in can wear, and let the rack clunk back and forth in the housing. That's what my '01 did. Somehow it did not leak fluid.

It only made a clunk at full lock so the rack was extended all the way and the steering wheel rocked, with the engine off, but that's how I found the problem.

Neon4Life · Post by **Neon4Life** » Mon Jun 02, 2014 1:43 pm

hmm interesting.

here ill explain my situation a little better,I first noticed it when in park/neutral etc. engine off. I turn the wheel left and right when wheels are perfectly straight and it doesn't take much turn radius of the wheel to make the noise when standing still. sounds and looks to me like it comes from the inner rod ( I had my buddy turn the wheel as I looked trough the engine bay at the inner tie rod because I got lots of room to see it from above and car too low to see it from below haha ) does it sound like what u mentioned..? remember I got no PS ( deleted ) idk if that matters.

the car steers straight down the road, no vibration,, no up/down or side to side movement of the wheel.

Post by **occasional demons** » Tue Jun 03, 2014 9:14 am

Might be the inner rod then. Mine only did it when turned fully to the left.

I think my inners are shot now tho. 205,000 miles on them...

I think it is why Mopar does not service the inner rods, because something else may fail either before them, or after them within 20,000 miles or so. Not a concrete fact, but the odds are probably relatively high enough that it would be a customer service PITA.

Look at your situation, if the rack has failed. You would be pissed as hell if you had paid them to replace the inners, and now you have an issue so soon. Accusations would be flying.

Neon4Life · Post by **Neon4Life** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 1:59 pm

Bump, I'm still trying to solve this issue. I left it alone the past week and a half since I was on vacation with the wife but now at it again. Today I replaced the driver side inner tie rod as well as the boot as it needed a new one. and still makes the noise. I disconnected the sway bar and still makes the noise. So I just ordered another inner rod for the passenger side. It has to be that one. I had the wife turn the steering wheel ever so lightly enough to make the noise and nothing besides the steering moves a few. Like that how small of movement it takes that I know it can't be the axles or ball joints. Anyways I'll report back with what I find out tomorrow.

Midnight_Rider · Post by **Midnight_Rider** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 1:36 am

How frustrating! Hope that you find the problem.

Neon4Life · Post by **Neon4Life** » Mon Jun 30, 2014 8:57 am

see my progress log for info on how I solved this

viewtopic.php?t=66354&start=90

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Fri Jul 04, 2014 12:42 pm

Thanks for the update !!

It Sucks that you'd have to replace the LCA bushings (again) after just 10 months....

Lesson Learned:
Take time to check torque.... AND be sure to Re-torque per instructions !!:thumbup:

- Nick