Suspension / ChassisQuestions about your suspension? Need chassis advice?
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I recently purchased new tie rod ends for my 92 RS from autozone and put them on myself. I noticed that when I took the old ones off the driver side tie rod setup (inner,outer,adjusting sleeve) was about 19 inches. But when I took the passenger side off it was only 18 inches. I was getting it lined up the next day so I figured they would adjust all of that. So I measured them up as close as possible, but the passenger side assembly wouldnt tighten that small. Well after I took it into the shop to be lined up they ran into a problem. The tie rod assembly on the passenger side was too long and needed to be about a 1/4-1/2 inch shorter so it could be properly lined up. So I went into Autozone the next day and asked them about it and they only have one listing for the inner, outer and adjusting sleeve. They even checked the Z28 and it was the same part. The 2 guys at autozone told me that either somethings bent, which I don't think there is, or that it was made mid-year 92 so it may have 93 tie rod ends, which kind of sounds believeable, but i dont know, so I was wanting some advice or to know if anybody else has run into this problem.
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Is it 18" left and 19" right with the Pitman Arm exactly normal to the centerlink? Or is the centerlink cocked slightly towards the left with the steering wheel straight?
The steering wheel can be adjusted to line up after the pitman arm and tie rods are set, not the other way around.
'93 tie rod ends would have been for a rack set up.
Your AZ tie rod ends could be from whatever manufacturer supplied the parts that week. I've bought various suspension parts from them over the years and they're not consistent. They even had inners once with the fitting on the back, go figure.
If you can't get it right adjusting with the pitman straight back you may have to shop around for a diff set of tie rods, but that's a fair amount of difference side to side.
__________________ "A man who voluntarily drives a car like that and still manages to maintain such impervious confidence that it will faithfully start the next time he turns that key is an encouragement for us all to take greater risks in life."
Yeah I went in today and was talkin with them about it and the guy kept sayin that if they are too long then my car has been in a wreck and somethings bent or they put a new front end on it, which I know for a fact none of that happened.
Just cuz im 19 they like to act like I'm an idiot or something.
So I had him pull the parts out of the back and looked at them and they look different from the ones they gave me in the first place, so i'm gonna just pull the whole assembly off tomorrow and take em in to them, an see what they have to say then.
Get your money back from AZ and go to Napa - they'll have 2 different part numbers available - one being slightly more expensive - get the more expensive ones - they are way better quality and about the same price as the AZ crapola.
The newer tierod ends usually comes longer with the aftermarket part. More threads means if somethings bent you can adjust it better. Chances are you didn't install it correctly. By that I mean take it off and move the inner farther in. It is most definately not a 93 camaro inner being as you don't have a rack. I align cars all day every day. I will also tell you that the thirdgen idler arm IS adjustable to move up and down. Try what I say. If all else fail and you plan on going fast get a ED Quay set like I got. Spherical (sp) rod ends say yes to me.
Well after I went back to Autozone, they gave me the correct part. So I ended up going to Napa, and advanced auto, and they all had the same problem. The joint at the end of the tie rods is about a 1/3 larger than the stock ones, so when the parts producers went to make the aftermarket ones, im assuming they didnt take that into account so thats why they were all longer. It turns out though that the moog ones that advanced sellls were about the right size, but of course they didnt have any in stock. So my only other option was too grind the ones I had down.
So I looked for about an hour and a half to find a nut to fit the thread so I could rethread the end after I ground it down, and still couldnt find one. So I went back and bought another one of the adjustable links. I cut both ends off of the link with a bench vise, a sawzaw and then used my grinder to even the ends. I threaded the ends onto the tie rod ends, measured them to a little over 1/8" or about 4 threads, cut them, and then ground the ends even. I ran the link on and off about 4-5 times to make sure the thread was still good. After that I just threaded them back on, measured them out and put em back on. Going to have it re-aligned tomorrow
427 SBC
