turbo tie rod instalition

redducati750 · 02-03-2003, 10:02 AM

ok i have my steering rack and out of my car and am instaling turbo tie rods, i took the old rods off and one is about 3/4 inch longer than the other. Should i adjust the turbo tie rods to this?

Stuttgart951 · 02-03-2003, 11:36 AM

BUMP - also interested in this.

rfix'n · 01:11 PM

Seems to me you have to options. Either way, you want to keep the same overall length so the toe stays the same.

Option A would be to make them equal, this means the steering wheel will probably be turned when the car is driving in a straight line. You can solve this by pulling the wheel.

Option B is to keep them different lengths. This is obviously the easiest solution and I really don't see a downside unless its going to bug you that their different lengths.

Okay, Fredmeister has pointed out the downside to B, bump steer. Looks like your better off pulling the steering wheel.

dhaines · 02-03-2003, 11:55 AM

IMHO You need to get them as close to what they were before as possible. This will make your car steer right while you drive it in for alignment. I measured from the rack to the middle of the ball joint and put it back to the same measure. If you don't one wheel will likely br turned in/out too far. Still not the end of the world, just will eat up your tire on your way to alignment shop and may pull strongly to one side.

fredmeister · fredmeister's Garage

In reality, the tie rods should be equal length or else you will see bump steer effects. The rack should be centered in the car to have proper suspension geometry. If one tie rod is longer than the other, then some point in time they were adjusted incorrectly and the steering wheel removed to reposition it so that it looked right while driving straight ahead. To do it right you want to re center the rack by turning the steering wheel with tie rods disconnected from the spindle until both tie rods are as close as possible to the same length with the tires in the straight ahead position. Reattach the tie rods and remove and recenter the steering wheel. When you go in for an alignment, realize that this will adjust the tie rods a little from here to get everything lined up correctly and the toe in set.

redducati750 · 02-03-2003, 01:29 PM

well my wheel is off and there is a shop that does alignments about 6 miles away so equal they are.

Kmatts · 02-04-2003, 07:13 AM

Ok, i'm not sure if this is corrrect, but a good friend of mine swears that if you very carefuly measure the tie rods prior to removal a new alignment can be avoided when you install the new turbo tie rods. He told me not only to measure the distance of the old tie rods but to actually count the number of threads and then match that number to the install of the new ones. what do you guys think? Kyle.

KFC911 · 02-04-2003, 08:54 AM

I too am interested in Kyle's question...Does this apply to replacing original tie rods w/ turbo tie rods, or is this for replacing turbos w/ turbos? Although I have the turbo tie rods on hand, since I just had an alignment, I'm not wanting to have another alignment done unless it's absolutely necessary.

redducati750 · 02-04-2003, 09:01 AM

stock tie rods with turbos,

Wil Ferch · 02-04-2003, 11:23 AM

Here's a trick...
I would do a "home alignment"... *IF*... toe is all I was worried about.
How? Simple..get a long piece of conduit, and stabilize one end so it won't roll. Place it across the front of both front wheels. Now..place a thumbtack on a *rib* of the front tire ( front-side...call this 9 0'clock as you view the driver's side wheel from the outside) and string a bob-weight over the shaft of the tack until the bob hits ground...actually ..the conduit laying on the floor. Make sure your tack is on a rib...you don't want to puncture a tire !!
Mark this point on the conduit with a fine-tip pen. Repeat on the other side wheel. Measure the distance of the two marks on the conduit, and leave them there.
Now...carefully roll the car back until the thumb tack is at 3 o'clock position...or facing the backside of the car. Place the conduit on the ground *behind* the wheel. Repeat the bob-weight procedure. When you have "equal" front and rear readings..you have zero toe. "Snug" the toe-adjustment for a "smidge" of toe-in...and you're good to go. To target 1/16" vs 1/8" of toe-in is absurd due to the amount of rubber in the suspension anyway...so don't sweat the small stuff.
If you don't agree..it's at least a very good approximation of where you need to be as you drive to the alignment shop without needlessly wearing out your tires.
---Wil Ferch

KFC911 · 02-05-2003, 03:26 AM

Thanks Everyone! Wil, that seems 'elegantly simple' enough, and I think I'll give that a try. Since I just had a complete alignment, unless I'm mistaken, the turbo tie rod install should only potentially alter the toe, and I should be OK w/ your technique. But now a followup question...Although I don't know my exact ride height (she's never been lowered) and having recently installed new Bilsteins, is now a good time to 'bite the bullet', and lower her, install a bump stear kit, (and anything else I might be missing), then have her corner balanced and realigned? How much of a difference will lowering and a corner balance make? Thanks again...

Wil Ferch · 02-05-2003, 07:09 AM

Keith:
I guess the short answer is that ...yes..the tie-rod adjustment will only alter toe and the steering wheel position...so you may want to stay with that little problem first.
Lowering and corner balancing can be done later. Whether you feel a difference ..would depend largely on your driving style, but you'd better be honest in your own self-assessment. If you don't drive aggressively, the effort might go largely unnoticed. YMMV.
---Wil Ferch

KTL · 02-05-2003, 08:46 AM

Since you have the steering rack out of the car, i'd highly recommend relubing it. You'd be surprised how much grease has "disappeared" from the housing.

I posted this link to steering rack pictures/specs./procedures awhile back. Maybe it'll come in handy for you?

And like fredmeister said, as long as you've got it out you might as well put it back in properly. So, you should center the rack and avoid moving the shaft/bumping the rack ends as much as possible when you reinstall it. You can then rotate the steering shaft u-joint as needed to get the u-joint splines lined up with the rack input shaft. Finally, you remove the steering wheel after your rods are installed and toe is set.

To center the rack you can:

A. Count the # of rotations the input shaft makes throughout its full range of motion and divide this by two.

B. Make sure the length of the rack sticking out of the alloy housing is the same on both sides.

Checking both A. and B. will get your rack nicely centered.

One more thing. Put a few drops of oil on the steering shaft u-joints. This can prevent any binding in the near future.