Has anyone experiences bad new turbo tie rod ends

[dave7320]

Bought a Lemforder turbo tie rod kit for my 914-6 about 6/7 years ago and set them in the shelf. After installing the kit using the correct spacers. I have a vibration in the wheel as the speed climbs. After putting the car on the lift and applying pressure to the wheels. You can feel a click at the rack side of the tie rod end. It's audible and on both sides. They are properly tightened to the rack with spacers behind them. Has anyone else experienced bad tie rods right out of the box?

[SalParadise]

Well, if you bought them 6-7 years ago, and they may have been 2 years old (or more when you bought them) - then they weren't new when you put them on. Anything could have happened, dried out, etc, etc. in ten years. Could have been bad in the first place (this happens), but at this point it's probably best and safest to just buy new ones.

[76FJ55]

Seems odd that tie rods would go bad setting on the shelf, even is 10+ years old. there are older tie rods than that in service that are still good. Suppose it could be in the rack and not the tie rod. have someone hold the steering hard over against lock and try pushing and pulling on the wheels again. if it is still there I would agree it is in the tie rod, but if it disappears you either need to look at the rack or at the joint between the rack and inner ball joint.

[dave7320]

I agree they won't go bad sitting on the shelf. Just wanted to provide an accurate history for the post. Had already checked the inner joint against the rack for tightness. Thought the tension of the rack against the pinion was causing the clicking. Pulled the tensioner out and made sure it was functioning. Going to remove one end and test it on the bench for play.

[T77911S]

could it be the rack.
sometimes when you replace suspension parts and "tighten the suspension" back up you start to feel the problems with the old parts, wheels, tires

[dave7320]

Everything is new. Elephant poly bronze, ball joints and mono balls all new. Can actually feel the slip in the inner tie rod end.

[KTL]

I think you want to check the rack and make sure the guide bushings are not loose in the rack. These are held in place by external star rings and as the years go by, people have seen that the star rings break and allow the bushings to come out of the rack, creating a loose condition.

Check out this thread. Unfortunately Autoban's photobucket hosting prevents you from seeing the pictures.

Play in Steering Mechanism

Search other posts by his name with the term "rack" and you'll see he was very helpful in pointing out this problem to other people. Apparently these metric retaining rings are not easy to come by. I've been meaning to see if there's a suitable SAE/English size retaining ring but I keep forgetting to do that.......

Here's an example of a SAE inch size ring in 2 inch inside diameter

https://www.mcmaster.com/#98435a160/=19s5qy1

[Jeff Alton]

Kevin points out a not so uncommon issue.

It would be odd to see parts that go bad on the shelf. It is use that causes issue...

[dave7320]

Took a look this morning. The bushings in the end of the rack are shot. Have a known good unit that came out of the car. Good seals and the no lateral play. Should have looked closer when I put it together.