How-To: Inner tie rod replacement with part numbers

SlvrACR · Post by **SlvrACR** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:38 pm

Damn I could have had them to yu by now. I had them instock

grambo · Post by **grambo** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 10:14 am

^I know, I know. partsamerica claimed they were "in stock" then a mysterious incident happened. Assmunches.
The part came in last night. Hooray for MOOG!
I'll post pics of the NASCAR style install tomight after work..

latief · Post by **latief** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:30 pm

I didn't get your last comment, did you do it? did it work ? let me know .....

thanks,

grambo · Post by **grambo** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:34 pm

The install will happen tonight. Pics will come tomarrow a.m. with a play by play of the knuckle busting..

latief · Post by **latief** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:47 pm

How much did you pay for the parts ?

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:38 am

How did the Job go ? i hope it worked ....

latief · Post by **latief** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 9:52 am

Grambo, we havn't heard from you man , i hope the Job went smooth .....

grambo · Post by **grambo** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:51 am

OK. Here is the play-by-play...
Remove the tire and wheel.

Scribe your steering tie-rod @ the jam-nut to mark you alignment postion. (DO NOT use pen or chalk, it will rub off.)

Loosen the jam-nut on the steering tie-rod.

Loosen the outer ball-joint/tie rod end-link at the steering knuckle.

Remove the outer ball-joint/tie rod end-link from the tie-rod.

Remove the inner-boot. (This will necessitate removing your front sway-bar if you have one. Also, I replaced my band clamps on the boot with Stainless Steel units. If you want to reuse the old ones...good luck getting them back on.)

Slide the inner boot off of the tie-rod

You now have access to the inner tie-rod ball joint/end-link.

^Notice that the bottom piece pictured is smooth/round where it screws into the steering assy. (This is the OLD one) I used a big-ass set of pliers to grab the old one at the raised/smooth/round area and thread it off. I had to go at it from the left side of teh strut assy with my left hand from above. This is a BITCH and you will bleed.

^The MOOG unit is awesome compared to the old. It is shouldered so you can get a wrench on it. Threading it back into the steering-rack was a cinch. DO NOT forget lock-tite (provided by MOOG)

This is what you will see with everything removed. (The pliers were NOT tight. I just used them to stabilize the steerig unit while I was removing the old tie-rod. DO NOT scratch ANY steering componants!!!)

The new tie-rod outta' the box on the worky bench..

Nothing goes better with tie-rods than a Maddog 72% STS..

Nothing goes better with that than Fish Tacos...

Any more questions? PM me...oh, and get the car aligned after the repair so you don't waste your tires like I did..

latief · Post by **latief** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:22 pm

Good job man......

questions:

1-the most important question, did it take care of the noise ?
2- did it align properly? teh new one seems a tad taller than the old one....
3-Jacking the car... do you have a lift? can i use jack stands ?
4-will the exiting mopar tie-rod ends fit on the new rods?

to me, accessing the area is the biggest problem unless you have a lift.... please let me know....

where did you get that shifter from, and does it come with the knob? i love it ......

great job, you made my day ... hopefully i'll be able to do it too ....

grambo · Post by **grambo** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:36 pm

#1 - The "clunk " seems to be a driveline thing. Cuz now its actually louder with car on the new (lower) setup.

#2 Alignment took 3.5 hours due to the camber adjusters and new suspensions setup being VERY tight to play with. The tie-rod had NO affect on the alignment.

#3 I did the car on jack-stands.

#4 All OEM componants fit onto the new MOOG part, which I will repeat, is a MUCH BETTER componant. I may replace the other one just for kicks...

Costs:
MOOG Tie-Rod @ partsamerica.com = $70

Alignment (Lowered/Raised Vehicle) = $90

(The other $500 I spent was for new tires, labor, recycle, tax, etc...Happy Birthday to me I guess...)

latief · Post by **latief** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 12:50 pm

thank you ..... this is so helpful, i will work on this next month once i come back from my trip..... although i still don't understand how you accessed the steering gear from above the sturt tower? it is really deep in there,,,,, and why did you have to remover your sway bar since you did the work from above?

how big were the pliers you used to grab the inner-tie rod? i need to buy one..... Picture?

bare with me on all the questions, i'm still learning.....

good job ....

grambo · Post by **grambo** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 1:14 pm

...from "above" I meant above the cross-member under the car. When you get under there and look you will see that there is about a 6" x 4" hole in the crossmember that provides access to the boot clamps from below. The clamps are a bitch, be prepared to bleed and cuss.
...back to "access"...if you are sitting on teh garage floor looking at your strut (driver's side) there is a gap to the left of the strut wheer you can access the side of the motor/trans. Reach through there with you left hand and move it towards the inner tie-rod end link. You will find a very handy amount of room....just enough to get som edecent size pliers into..
...the pliers I used were a standard Craftsman p/n 45381 that can be had at any Sears store on the cheap, I said bog cuz i didn't want noobs to try it with thier "Do It Herself Kit" or their Leathermans..

latief · Post by **latief** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 2:09 pm

This should be a sticky because i'm 99% sure that you are the first person to actually do this while the rack is in the car !!!

latief · Post by **latief** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:56 pm

Grambo ,

i'm ready to do this, just ordered the parts. what band clamps did you use? and where did you get them from ..?
Thanks,

kbobob · Post by **kbobob** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:58 am

hey guys...would you say this is a time consuming job. Doesn't look like it should be but the weather hasn't been the greatest lately so i am just trying to figure out if its worth doing now or trying to wait it out.

i am getting the clunking right by my feet. when i switch directions at low speeds and i can feel clunking when going over some bumps espesically while making right turns. if you hold onto the tie rod and have someone wiggle the steering you can feel it clunking on the driver side tie rod. I am thinking of replacing both the inners and the ball joints while i have it apart(one ball joint boot has a tear in it so no sense leaving it)

once you get a set of pliers/vice grips on the tie rod was it had to get it to break free? it doesnt seem like this should take a ton of time getting out, but i am probably wrong. I am tempted to rent a bay at a local shop for a few hours instead of messing around in the snow.

Post by **Diablo0** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:02 am

It doesn't take too long... not that hard either...

kbobob · Post by **kbobob** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:34 am

cool...thats what i wanted to know....i am going to see if i can get some help from a friend, never done ball joints either....he has a ball joint press and has done these before, i was just worried that we would get to the round inner part and get stopped at it because of not having those wrench spots.

i hope this solves this issue, we did all the suspesnion bushings last feb and replaced all 4 struts, so its a bit of a bummer to have to go back in there and fix things and get yet another alignment....oh well......i still love the feel of the firm suspension....hell.....after this it'll be almost new again..haha

latief · Post by **latief** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:47 am

I have done this, it did not fix the problem you are talking about. there is something inside the steering rack that causes this clunk......invest in a re-manufactured steering rack or a used one and save your money ...

Post by **Diablo0** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:51 am

I used some Vice Grips to grip that inner part... worked fine

kbobob · Post by **kbobob** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:56 am

COOL COOL........so how do i know for sure if its the rack or the inners. I had my friend check them out and i felt them too. The driverside clunked a lot, the passenger side didn't, he said the inners are bad........

so how do i know for sure if its the inners or the rack.....

and how long can i drive with this problem? i dont want my steering to completly crap out on me.

it is clunking when i am turned also, mostly when going right(the left side is clunking....it actually feels like the suspension is clunking, i dont really feel it through the steering wheel, but when the car is stopped and you hold the tie rod and wiggle the steering it is definately the tie rod or the rack, if i grab the tie rod you can feel it clunking in it and if i pull up on it when turning the wheel the clunk changes sound a bit...

latief · Post by **latief** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:06 am

I took it a shop, he told me there is nothing wrong with my inner-rod (he inspected it vigorously), but i insisted on changing it since i thought that was the problem, so after changing the problem remains....raise your car, and inspect it closely, if there is no visible and noticeable out-of ordinary movement and play, i would think your inner rod is fine, and it is most likely your rack... these inner ones rarely go bad (at least that was what i was told), could be wrong though!!!

good luck...

Edit: Just to describe how mine is. with the car turned off, moved the steering left and right fast, and you get a clunk on the right side that feels to originate near you feat... is that what you have?

kbobob · Post by **kbobob** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:13 am

yup...exactly what i can feel, now my sisters bf checked the inners out, he said he could feel play in them................

isnt there another way to check the inner.......like undo the outer and pull on tie rod, would that show anything????

latief · Post by **latief** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:18 am

you are describing the problem i have, but my experience is that each car could be different, as i a said i changed the inners on mine with a Moog part, it was an easy job for the mechanic because of the lift of course, my problem did not go away... it also clunks over certain bumps while driving........its been doing that since i bought car....... took it to dodge like 5 times for this, and to other shops also.... suspension is solid, except for the clunk noise... so i just forgot about...

maybe you should change the inner just for the peace of mind, you never know, it could fix it ..

we are posting at the same time hence the confusing responses

up...exactly what i can feel, now my sisters bf checked the inners out, he said he could feel play in them................

isn't there another way to check the inner.......like undo the outer and pull on tie rod, would that show anything????

could work, give it a shot. I think that at least in theory, a bad inner tie-rod would be very obvious, the car would not align correctly, and will wander while driving at high speeds, not to mention be very dangerous . when i took off mine and replaced it, i was surprised how solid the old one was, it is really very hard to break, i knew once i saw it that my problem was not fixed even before i touched my car.. was very disappointed

kbobob · Post by **kbobob** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:27 am

haha yuppers.......i am just a little paranoid about having an inner breaking while driving......i think i may hold off on getting the parts and crawl under there tommorow and take a really good look. I may see if i can take it out to another person i know....he has a lift in his garage.....see if he can take a good look at it. ....he is awesome when it comes to cars, i might have him take a look at it and/or fix it.

latief · Post by **latief** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:36 am

sounds like a plan, that moog part is expensive....although WAY easier to change than the whole rack.....

kbobob · Post by **kbobob** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:41 am

there are other brands out there then moog, i called and they had them pretty darn cheap, thats why i may just swap them anyway.

oh well..i will put my gf in the car and climb under it and have her move the wheels around and see if i can feel where the problem is.

kbobob · Post by **kbobob** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:01 pm

sweet......the clunking was a dead ball joint, the sucker was bone dry, it wouldnt take any grease and was rusting inside. With them changed now, the car doesnt clunk and feels solid again.

i was told the reason i could hear things when i was under the car was because i didnt have the car running so the fluid wasnt under pressure so i could hear the gears moving.

I guess i lucked out.

latief · Post by **latief** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:45 am

kbobob wrote:sweet......the clunking was a dead ball joint, the sucker was bone dry, it wouldnt take any grease and was rusting inside. With them changed now, the car doesnt clunk and feels solid again.

i was told the reason i could hear things when i was under the car was because i didnt have the car running so the fluid wasnt under pressure so i could hear the gears moving.

I guess i lucked out.

good to hear

, hmmmm, makes me think that maybe i should look at the ball joints closely, yet i have no play or wheel movement, did you ?

kbobob · Post by **kbobob** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:35 pm

I had absolutely no play in it, it was when my mechanic friend went to grease them and neither would take any(I had added grease fittings a long time ago) so then he when to take the fitting out he noticed there was rusty water marks on the joint and you could see a nice rip in the boot. The other day when we took them out you could see that there was no grease to be had and it was all rusty and hard to move by hand. So he laughed and said that the car had arthritis thats why it was popping, the nice part was after he did them the alignment was still good and the car feels sooooo much better now(doesn't feel like the front end is going to fall out when i go over bumpy roads and railroad tracks).

I lucked out that it was the cheapest problem that could be fixed, well compared to a new rack. and i still cant believe that the ball joint was popping like that and have it feel like it was literly on the otherside of the firewall.

latief · Post by **latief** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:50 pm

Mine are the original after 120,000 miles.. this is interesting. i feel the clunck right on the fire-wall also, and their is no play in the alignment.

after visually inspecting the ball-joints, i could see the boots are very old..... if this is similar problem to your car, i would be very happy....

i will update this once i find anything new... so many backed-up projects to do ....