... And in this case, it sucks hardcore. This has nothing to do with engine timing, but the timing of my driver side outer tie rod breaking off at 85mph on the interstate. All I heard was metal bouncing around under the car, no vibration or jerking until the car had almost stopped. Speaking of timing, did I mention I start a new job next week, and this car has to take me to a town 3 hours away, spend the week training, then drive home on the weekends?

So, I call a buddy to pick me up and we head for uhaul. He brought an '04 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the uhaul guy tells us it's too light to pull my car. My old '87 cherokee with the same 4.0 his has pulled an '87 rs with no problems at all. New idea, go get his step-dad's '08 Ram 1500 quad cab, plenty of weight. We get back to uhaul, and the dude tells us we can't use a dolly like we planned, he says it won't fit. After arguing with him for twenty minutes, we give up and ask what he has we could use. This idjit smiles real big and offers us a car hauler... at twice the price of the dolly, of course. So we go back and pick up my car off the side of the interstate, sans my budget for gas, smokes, and half my lunches for the coming week.

The car is unceremoniously dropped at his house. Slide wheel ramps under the front, drivers tire just pushes it forward, keep drivers side tire straight by hand while putting passenger wheel on ramp, and jack up driver's side. Tire comes off, and I finally see what happened. The ball joint had just disintregrated, so off that comes. I can't get enough leverage under the car to unscrew the outer from the inner, so inner comes off too. Can we say alignment time? Upon inspecting the inner... it's bent. This is, of course after I had already ran to the parts store and only purchased the outer. By this time, parts store is closed.

Outta money, outta parts, outta patience... I scream and curse some of the most creative word groupings I've ever thought of. Pretty sure his neighbors will NOT be inviting him to the next block party.And now, to the point of this whole rant, other than simply getting it off my chest to make me feel slightly better. Anybody got any ideas how I can get the tie rod installed and aligned as best as possible without having to take it to a shop? I will eventually, but right now it's either get it aligned or feed my kids.

 

Toe is simple to set. you only need pretty much to adjust the side you are replacing- so to keep it simple for now, just DO NOT touch the other side of the car (the left tierod assembly).

What you will need to find is a few pieces of flat thin wood/metal/whatever - be creative. Old wood floor planking works well. The boards can not have alot of flex when about 3 lbs of force is applied to them. They need to be 26" long aprox (the closer the better between 25-27"). They need to be t least about 5-6" tall minimum (could be as high as about 12" would be fine also).

You need two tape measures, and a two person job- three people even better for a quick measure and adjustment.

Here's what you do. After assembling the new tierod to the car, set the left wheel (the one that did not break the tierod) straight in direction and hopefully the steering wheel will be centered- as long as it is close you will be ok. just a few degrees off is fine.

next you turn the other (new) tie rod adjuster until that wheel looks very close to straight just to minimize adjustment time...eyeball it for starters.

Each person grab a wood plank and with one knee you will gently hold it against the floor and tire in a long direction with the boards both centered on the ground next to the 26" diameter tires you have OEM on the car. The front edge of the board about even with the front of the tire, and the rear of the board about even with the rear of the tire. (Critical- Make sure you have the boards FLAT against the tire and the thin edge flat agaist the ground. Do NOT press the boards so hard with your knees to bend them against the tires, just hold agaisnt gently but firmly with no gaps.

Now here's the tricky part. One guy holds both tape measures and feeds the tape measure accross under the car to the other guy About 70" All cars vary. The second guy clips each tape measure end sideways onto the edges of his board as the frst guy pulls it gently but taunt. No too tight, just firm enough so the tap span does not sag down. Hook them about 2" off the ground on the sides of the boards. Now the guy holding the first board with his knee will grab both tape measure lengths and hold them next to his board also about 2" from the ground and read both front and rear readings. You want the reading to fall where the rear tape measure reads between 1/16 and 1/8" marks. (The center of this mark is 3/32") If the front reads 70" then the rear should rear 70 3/32", If the front reads 68 7/8" then the rear tape should read 3/32" more at 68 15/16" etc, etc.

This is where a third guy helping is really nice. He can get under the car and slowly spin the adjuster bar until you get the percise readings you need. Otherwise you have to drop the tapes each time to climb under and fiddle with the adjustment and keep trying again and again until you get it correct. Once correct, then lock it down ...and then recheck it to make sure it did not move one way or the other when tightening the clamp bolts.

Good luck

 

If you take the ties rods both off as a unit, soyou can match the new parts, it should be very close.

rock auto has the parts allot, allot cheaper

 

His broke.

 

The ball end broke, the threaded end that matters is still there, he said he couldn't get it to turn... which he doesn't want to do, you can't match the threads then.

 

Gumby, Ive know you for many years from way back in the V6 forum days when i was building my car. I do n;t know what you are talking about here with this advice but I notice I have been seeing you posting alot in the suspension forum lately like you have become some kind of suspension expert....

as Rawley reminded you, the OP said he is broke, and needs some good honest advice to try and help him get things going so he can get to a job and get so funds going. He simply needs to only take the one tierod assembly off, not both sides. yes he should probably get the other replaced asap when funds permit, but people do not have the luxury of always doing what is needed. He can simply buy the right side inner and outer tierod and sleeve and assemble it to how I discribed above to get himself going to that job requirement.

 

both off as in inner and outter, your reading more then there is, but only if he doesn't unscrew the busted one form the bent one, will it match up better.

logic says if it drove decent before, if you match old parts to new, it will be close to where it was.

 

Well, begged and scrounged and bought new inner and outer rods and sleeve. I used the trick slicktrack said, but it was slightly more difficult as I was the only person there, lol. Anyways, got it as close to perfect as I could, and let me tell you... MAJOR difference from before it broke. It never had power steering, but it is SO much easier to turn than before. And theres a lot less play in the wheel, which is always nice. Thanks for the advice guys. Now I just gotta wait for a paycheck to get a proper alignment done. Til then, it'll just have to sit in the parking lot at home.