Hey well, while I was under the car yesterday, I noticed a tie rod was loose.

Now I know this much... you aren't supposed to wiggle it lol

Can anyone tell me how hard it is to replace the tie rod on our vehicles? Any special things I need to watch for, or do to the car before/after installation?

Thx.

 

If it's loose then one of the hard parts in removal is over.

Unbolt it from the adjuster. Unscrew the tie rod, counting the turns, from the adjuster. This can be the second hard part. Depending how old or rusty it is, the tie rod may not screw out. There are right and left hand threads so the part you're trying to take off could have either.

Once you have it off, counting the threads, screw in a new one to the same thread count. Once installed, bolt down the adjuster, install the end back into the steering arm, install the nut and cotter pin.

Take it to an alighnment shop to get the rest checked out and aligned.

 

Yup, pretty easy part to change. It's right under the front of the car, not much in the way, and you just need some needle-nose pliers for the cotter pin, and a couple wrenches and sockets. If you don't have a grease gun, get the car aligned immediately so they can grease it properly without putting too much wear on it.

 

Hey sorry it took so long to respond to this thread, but thanks alot for the tips.

The actual tie rod itself looks in good shape? But the funny thing is it fell off... I can put it back into place though. Is it possible to get some new bushings for each end and bolt it back into place? I'll get a pic sometime to reaffirm whether or not that might be possible.

Thx

 

I'm assuming this is an outer tierod? And it fell out of the spindle? Sound like the castle nut on top wasn't tightened down. Get a new boot (AutoZone or wherever), get a cotter pin, pop the tie rod in place, tighten the castle nut as much as you can and insert the cotter pin so the nut doesn't come loose.

If the bolt section of the tie rod came out of the tie rod end itself, though, you need a new tie rod end.

When you're done either way, get some grease in there.

 

FWIW, the packs of 2 ES tie rod boots are actually cheaper then the stock replacements at autozone... not like a couple of bucks one way or the other makes that big a difference...