Installing Turbo Tie Rods Tomorrow

[Paul Ferradas]

When screwing in the new tie rods, how tight are they supposed to screw in? Is there a tool of some sort to get them tightened properly?

Are the Lock wachers with the notches in them that came off with the old tie rods suppose to go back in with the new ones?

And lastly. Is it correct that I don't need the outer boot springs? Just the inner one right?

Thanks!

[Gearbox]

If you search the threads, this has been covered many times. the best one I found was here Turbo Tie Rod Install I think removing the entire rack would be so much easier in the long run, and especially in getting the steering alignment close to right so you can drive it around before getting a proper alignment. Good luck Allan

[Paul Ferradas]

Thaks for that thread but I don't plan to remove my steerin rack. I think most do it with there steering rack installed and since theirs no clearance for a wrench to tighten the tie rod i wanted to know how it's done. I did notice two notches in the rod itself. are these used to tighten?

[Early_S_Man]

You may be thinking you are going with the trend of the majority of DIYers out there, but that isn't the correct way to do the tie-rod upgrade!!! The rack should come out to be cleaned, evaluated, and repacked with a fresh load of moly EP synthetic grease. The steering rack is the major part of an important safety system in a 911, and ignoring important preventive maintenance is false economy, and risky behavior.

[TWork]

Though it sounds like a lot of work to 'remove the steering rack' -- it's actually just a matter of 4 bolts and disconnecting the steering linkage.

[Paul Ferradas]

Ok, you talked me into it. I'll be removing my steering rack and updating the process with pictures and questions

[carmad]

I have done it both ways, it is much easier with the rack out. As Early S Man said, now you can do a proper inspection and re-pack.

[dfink]

It seems one of the biggest complaints of doing it on the car is the installation of the retaining ring for the inboard side of the new boot. I found that if you use the outside ring from the old boot things will go much easier. It is just a tad larger than the inboard one so it goes on much easier. It is however still very tight and will hold the boot fine.
Getting the old arms off was not that hard using the arm as the wrench. Sounds kind of like breaking a chicken wing as the rubber on the arm is normally never bent that far but once the lock nut is loose there should be room to bend the arm and turn it out.
It has also been suggested to just use zip ties on the boots but I couldn't bring myself to do that. Maybe on a race car that is apart all the time.

[Buckterrier]

I've heard alot about the turbo tie rods but not to what the advantage is. Could someone explain to this Newbie what that is? Thanks.

[dfink]

I didn't notice any difference as will be the statement of most. But if your old ones need replacement anyhow it is maybe a nice upgrade. The best part is toe adjustment is easier only have to loosen the outer lock nut make the adjustment and tighten. The design advantage is that there is no rubber joint to cause slop. Mine had torn tie-rod boots so I just did the whole thing.

[Buckterrier]

Thank you very much D. I'll be an expert in another 150 years or so! hmmm... that would be in Porsche heaven.

[Paul Ferradas]

Finally got the tie rods installed today. Thanks to Toby for stopping by and lending a hand and some knowledge.

After all is said and done, this job was a PITA for me. I think it would have gone alot smoother if I could have knock the lock washer behind the old tie rod loose. I wasn't able to on both sides. This meant that I had to grab a big pipe wrench and twist it out with alot of bodily force! These threads were pretty long so it took a while with a few breaks in between.

Most people say that putting the inner boot retaining springs is the hardest part. I somewhat agree but I figured a little trick that you can work on the bottom part, then you can twist the boot while the spring is hald way on it and basically you slide the top part over to the bottom, snap, and your done.

I hope to come close with the tie rod length. Can someone recommend an easy way to check it after tires go on?

I'm guessing a ride to the alignment shop will be about 5 miles.

[slodave]

Hi Paul,

If I am not mistaken, when you bought your car, you had a good PPI and was a little unsure of how to fix cars. If I am wrong, I am sorry. I have watched your threads and I am amazed at what you have done, in a short period of time. And to stick with it!

When I did my rods, I thought they looked close to the old ones, but 10 odd miles later, showed a different story. My tires were towing out in a bad way. I did make it to the shop and all ended well.

Dave

[Paul Ferradas]

Hi Dave,

I made the mistake of taking the car for a PPI at the Porsche dealership. I figured they would know everything about the car since the built it. Boy was I wrong. I had another PPI done after I bough the car and the Porsche dealership missed alot of things. Iv'e cleared up about 80% of the stuff on the PPI that needed to be fixed.

I'm learning alot and I wouldn't have gotten this far without these boards.

I figure if I screw something up really bad I'll just call the mechanic for a house call

[widgeon13]

Did you eventually take the steering rack off to do the tie rods? Good job!

[dfink]

You have done this much work you may as well try a string alignment for the toe. Just skip the caster camber parts. As usual do a search and you will find excellent directions. There are many ways to set just the front toe.
You can probably get it just as good as they will at an alignment shop. One thing to remember when doing toe on the front. The toe setting will eventually effect the position of the steering wheel. Make sure the wheel is set straight ahead and locked somehow when checking and setting toe. If your toe is set properly and the wheel is not straight then turn each adjuster in opposite directions until the wheel is straight. i.e. (move one rod end in and one rod end out) which way depends on where the wheel needs to go.

[Paul Ferradas]

Thanks for the info dfink.

No, I didn't take the steering rack out.

There's few parts I need to order before puting her back together. Epecially the wedge pin that attches the bottom of the strut to the ball joint. In the Bentley Manual it says to always replace. This is because I replaced my right front strut. This has nothing to do with the tie rods.

[Gunter]

Paul:
This is the time to add the 12mm spacers under the rack to minimize bump-steer.
I recommend it if you are setting the height to 25" front and 24.5" rear.
If you get the bump-steer kit, do a search on how to install, it's easy if you center the front wheels, tie down the steering wheel, loosen the U-joint in the smugglers box and do one bolt at a time.
The spacers will make a difference. With the turbo tie rods and the bump-steer kit, do an alignment, you'll love it.

[Paul Ferradas]

Hi Gunter. I like the idea of this bump steer kit and it's only a few dollars which is nice also. I don't have any plans to adjust my ride height because I'm not sure where it should be. Of course I'd like to have it as low as possible without the tires rubbing. How do I determine if the car needs them as it is right now? Will it hurt it if I install them anyways?

[Gunter]

Go for it, Paul, this is the time.
Looking at your pix, you'll need the spacers.
The optimum anti bump steer is to have the control arms level when the car sits on the ground.
When you lower the car, the control arms are no longer level (Horizontal) ergo: bump-steer.
With the spacers, the rack is higher to compensate for the lowering.
It doesn't eliminate bump-steer completely, but it helps.
Do a search and follow the advise for installation, grind a little taper on the bolts, use grease.
Center the front wheels, tie down the steering wheel, loosen the U-joint in the smugglers box and do one bolt at a time meaning:
Take out the old short bolt on one side, insert the new longer bolt just a few threads, do the same on the other side, now the rack is loose but still aligned, pry up on one side, remove the bolt and insert spacer, install bolt with grease, do the same on the other side, now tighten both bolts.
The rack should have come up fairly easy if the U-joint on the steering column was loosend.
Re-tighten the U-joint.
If your steering wheel is not straight after this, no problem, the wheel will be centered during the alignment procedure.
I would have taken the rack out for the installation of the tie rods because of being able then to re-pack with new grease.
Have fun.