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Anyone replaced tie rods?
I had some new tires put on the front of my car and while it was on the hoist I noticed there was some side to side movement of the drivers side wheel. I had a friend move the wheel expecting it to be the outer tie rod joint. The movement is coming from the tie rod but inside the steering rack. Is there a joint inside the rack also? I looked up a complete tie rod and I dont see that theres a joint anywhere on the inside end of the tie rod. Something is obviously worn, is it the rack or will replacing the whole tie rod take care of this? Has anyone else dealt with this? Thanks in advance for any help...
Bob
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1985 944 N/A 1992 Formula Firebird (sold) 1997 Sebring LXI 1998 Ford Expedition 1983 944 (parted out) 1979 924 Turbo (sold) |
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08-06-2007, 06:30 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Kansas City/Lake of the Ozarks
Posts: 33
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Quote:
The way to see movement is to pull the dust boost off of the rack and it will reveal an almost hip-like ball joint. That is the inner tie rod. From there you can grasp the rack and the inner tie rod shaft that goes to the outer tie rod and flex it horizontally for play. Any play whatsoever is not acceptable. Getting the old inner shafts off is a bit of a challenge. Correctly done you need a 24 mm open end wrench and an open end torque wrench. Poor boys like me use a 14" pipe wrench and it actually didn't screw things up that badly doing it that way. From the factory there is a hub on the back side of the tie rod that mates inner tie rod shaft with the steering rack itself and the factory peens over the hub into a slot in the rack so as to lock the inner tie rod in place. It is a bearcat to un-peen the hub section. I wound up grinding it out with a Dremel tool on both the replacement rack and the old rack. Fortunately, the old and the new didn't mate back up radially in the same position and I was able to peen over a new portion of the hub to re-lock it. Once you pull back the dust covers it will become obvious. ...Lee
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1985.5 944 N/A India Red RIP 1973 914 |
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08-06-2007, 07:12 PM
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Make sure the wheel bearing is not loose. It would add to the motion.
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08-07-2007, 09:46 AM
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Just thinking out loud
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Close by
Posts: 6,885
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Sounds like a lot of fun to replace the complete rod on the power racks. If your 83 parts car has a manual rack I'd swap racks. It's easy and you get manual steering. Win Win situation.
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83 944 91 FJ80 84 Ram Charger (now gone) |
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08-07-2007, 10:51 AM
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Ozark, thanks for the info. I'm going to dig into it this weekend and see what it looks like. I will definitely check into the wheels bearings also.
Matt, the 83 did have a manual rack but sold in a package deal with the engine, I'm now wishing I would have kept it. I'll probably post in the classifieds for a manual rack if switching the complete tie rod is too much of a PITA. Thanks for the info and input guys, I really appreciate it Bob
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1985 944 N/A 1992 Formula Firebird (sold) 1997 Sebring LXI 1998 Ford Expedition 1983 944 (parted out) 1979 924 Turbo (sold) |
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08-07-2007, 11:13 AM
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Put your foot on the top of the tire. Push and try and get a rocking motion going. Loose bearings you will be able to feel and even hear. With the front end up, both wheels off the ground, push and pull one wheel while watching the other. In an ideal world, both wheels should turn together. There is a universal joint in the steering column right at the rack. Stand at the open window while looking at the tire. If you can move the steering wheel and the tire is late in responding, it may be the u-joint. Free play in a manual steering gear can be adjusted but not in the power steering rack. Ball joints and the swivel end of the tie-rod are common sources of free play.
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86 944 
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08-07-2007, 02:29 PM
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Just thinking out loud
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Close by
Posts: 6,885
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There are two joints. One at the rack and one where the intermediate shaft meets the steering shaft that goes through the firewall.
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83 944 91 FJ80 84 Ram Charger (now gone) |
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08-07-2007, 02:39 PM
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