what the heck is this mean??? both inner tie rod ends have play?

[jykk04]

I just got my 944 inspected for insurace perpose.. and one of the things said 'both inner tie rod ends have play' .. i have no idea what that means.. so i think i'm gonna call them back.. but anyone got an idea what it means and how to fix it?.. help me out here. .cause i'm new and i have no idea.. and no money .. :'(

oh.. and i also 'rear wheel bearing have excessive play' and 'floor pan under drivers seat broken and will not reatain seat' and.. 'steering wheel broken' along with other stupid things.. :P.. owning porsche is expensive..

[SoCal Driver]

Hmm. I have an 83 and have recently pulled the boots back on the steering rack and inspected mine. Tight as a new drum head. As far as I know both are original to the car. These long shafts with tie rod ends are over $200 each. The outer tie rod end runs around $40. Did the "inspector" dead center the steering rack and use the locking bolt to hold it in possition while he checked end play?

What is broken on the steering wheel? The horn pad?

As to the seat retaining bolts; I've had to rebuild mine as both of the front have pulled through the inner floor pan. Use a four inch piece of 1/8" by 1" steel strap bolted under the inner floor pan on each side to clear the seat rail (#10-32) and drill and tap the center of the strap 1/4-24. Use socket head cap screws (Allen bolts) or a sillymeter equivalent. You do NOT have to drill through the bottom of the car to fix this.

What is "excessive" rear wheel bearing play? Do the large nuts need to be tightened? They require at least 350 foot pounds then a bit more to get the cotter pin holes lined up.

Who did this inspection? A local mechanic that has a chance of bagging a little repair business or possibly the mechanic's brother in law?

[jykk04]

actually i got it done by Calgary Porsche Dealer.. the south find car center .... so they dd pretty good job checking everything!!!.. if i want it to just pass the insurace ispection, i know people who'll just pass me with 20 bucks.. but.. i wanna fix the wheel bearing cause thats going.. its making that 'slushing' sound.. and the steering wheel.. well.. the whole circle part completely came off.. :P.. previous owner try to glue that as well. (as well as sparkplug wires) that i'm just gonna weld it/screw it back on tightly so that i can drive.. until i save enought money to get anice on.. i'll post up pics this weekend.. my friends from States are gonna come to my house and he's going to bring a digital cam.. hopefully.. the floor panel thing, i'll think i'll follow your suggestion... hope its not hard.... i have to take my seat out to do this right? well.. i guess its going to be busy weekend..

oh and Previous owner also used some 'homemade' fuses.. i dont know what this guy was thinking.. doing 6 grand paint job, engine rebuild and using paper clips weld it on to blown fuses..

[mike944]

Sounds like the previous owner was a hack. You might want to get this car inspected carefully by a mechanic familiar with porsches. You might be better off selling it and getting one in better condition, this one sounds like a money pit. We've all heard about people who spend more in the first year on maintenence than they paid for the car initially.

you didn't actually you think owning a porsche was going to be cheap?

[SoCal Driver]

A selection of fuses, the ceramic centers, red, white and blue, are less than $5 a almost any parts store. Better to spend the $5 now than thousands later when an "un-fuse" burns up the whole dash wiring. Is This one of the things the inspector caught?

I have not run across bad inside tie rod ends. Possible though. Seems that the steering rack would be suspect too if the billows boots were shot enough to let the elements ruin the inner tie rods.

Rear wheel bearings on an 83 are damaged by water when the seals harden and crack or shrink away from their races. The large nut also needs to be well tightened; 350 foot pounds then some. I've priced one side recently as less than $40 in parts complete.

Get an after market steering wheel. Less than $100 for a decent one. These work just as good as a $300 Momo or Personal.

I'll draw up some sketches on what I did to my floor pan to get the front seat re-anchored and e-mail them to you.

[AFJuvat]

Please tell me I'm not the only one that sees something seriously wrong here......

How does one glue a steering wheel back together? What do you do if the glue fails while you are driving?

What part of the spark plug wires would you glue, and what for the love of Christ would you glue them to??

Somehow, I'm doubting that a PPI was done on the car before you bought it - do you happen to have any maintenance records?

AFJuvat

[scottmandue]

Originally posted by AFJuvat
Please tell me I'm not the only one that sees something seriously wrong here......

How does one glue a steering wheel back together? What do you do if the glue fails while you are driving?

What part of the spark plug wires would you glue, and what for the love of Christ would you glue them to??

Somehow, I'm doubting that a PPI was done on the car before you bought it - do you happen to have any maintenance records?

AFJuvat

AFJuvat and SoCal are two of the mechanical wizards on this board but even a numbskull like me is scratching my head.

Glue? steering wheel? spark plug wires? what?

With that in mind, this is a silly question, or not, are you sure they are looking at you tie rods and not your sway bar?



BTW what did you pay for the car? I don't know where you are located but in the USA you can pick up a good running little 944 beater for $2000 - $3000. Sounds like you may end up spending that much getting this car going.

[jykk04]

well, first off .. i'm in canada so.. for 3 grand .. it was pretty good deal.. just wait few days till i take some pictures and post them up as soon as my friends get here.. then i can show you what i mean.. .... and i'm not sure if its sway bar or not.. cause i dont know much about cars.. but porsche deal wrote both inner tie rod ends have play.. now, i looked up inner tie rod end in the hayne's manu book and its there.. so.. i'm gonna go under my car and see what i can do.. but.. its really hard to explain with out pictures about the whole glue thingy.. heheheh.. so.. just give me few days.. k

[SoCal Driver]

Originally posted by scottmandue


AFJuvat and SoCal are two of the mechanical wizards on this board but even a numbskull like me is scratching my head.

I have not yet had the privilege of owning a 16 valve so I haven't broken the belts two times like I have on my 8 valve NA.

Or have I owned a turbo -- yet.

So we can categorize my hands on to the 83 944's and any other that has the same basic engine and running gear.

Might have to add replacing body panels as I'm getting ready to cut and replace the caved in rear panel.

[Gordon Rankin]

Hugh. Can I come over to help when you cut your a__ end off?
: ).. I mean you tail?..Or ah,,..Boy am I in trouble..
Gordon

BTW, thanks for all the help when I dropped my shifter linkage..

[tholyoak]

Inner tie rods wear just like outer tie rod ends. Most people just don't replace them since they aren't cheap like the outer end. To fix a worn inner tie rod end you need to replace the entire tie rod assembly that attaches to the rack.Part # 944 347 033 00 for a manual rack car.

I just picked one up at the dealer for $95.

On the steering wheel I can only hope he meant the plastic back or the horn pad was glued on and not the actual wheel to the steering column.

Todd

[individual]

the inner rods on my 83 are bad as well. it makes the steering wheel shake like mad at interstate speeds. i need to replace the inner rods so i gotta track some down. tholyoak, you say you got the inner rods from the dealer for 95 bucks? was that for both ends or each? also is that for a manual rack or power? i wonder if i can find them cheaper from someone other than the dealer, hmmmm.

[tholyoak]

$95 for the complete tie rod for one side, includes tie rod end, this was for a manual rack car

Todd

[jykk04]

well.. i think i should let you guys know that i, myself, replaced the tied rod end, which wasn't too hard, changed outter bearing on both rear wheels, inner bearing was left alone, due to the fact that i coulnd't get the rear shaft out.. .. whats with those 'star' screws.. they should of put bolts on it,,,,, and i bought momo race steerin wheel, which i'm putting it on monday, soon as i get the hub that ordered in my hand.. i replaced all the break hoses with stainless steel, so im' going to bleed my breaks tommrow, and i rebuild the caliper as well, now all i need to worry about is crack on my floor, which i probably spot weld.

[SoCal Driver]

Originally posted by jykk04
well.. i think i should let you guys know that i, myself, replaced the tied rod end, which wasn't too hard, changed outter bearing on both rear wheels, inner bearing was left alone, due to the fact that i coulnd't get the rear shaft out.. .. whats with those 'star' screws.. they should of put bolts on it,,,,, and i bought momo race steerin wheel, which i'm putting it on monday, soon as i get the hub that ordered in my hand.. i replaced all the break hoses with stainless steel, so im' going to bleed my breaks tommrow, and i rebuild the caliper as well, now all i need to worry about is crack on my floor, which i probably spot weld.

The "star" socket head bolts require the correct bit to remove. It's worth the 5 or 6 USDs to get one with a 3/8" drive. That is the bit and a "holder" pined or swedged together to fit the end of a 3/8" ratchet. Use a can of carb or brake cleaner to flush out the ends of the socket heads so that the bit gets the full depth of the broaching to twist against. Keep the bit in line with the bolt or it will strip out.

If/when you strip one of the six socket head bolts use large vice grips to grab the head and break it loose. You should always replace the bolts when you remove them.

You have to replace both bearings and the three seals to do an effective job. The large nut takes at least 350 foot pounds of torque and a little more to line up the nearest of the two cotter pin holes. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!!! If you don't you will just be back into the bearings in less than a year.

[jykk04]

how the heck am i suppose to make that 350 foot pound? i'm guessing i need a nice torque ranch??.. what size socket is that?

weird.. when i took it out, i could almost turn it with my hands cause it was so loose.. maybe thats why bearings went out.. hmm...

[SoCal Driver]

Originally posted by jykk04
how the heck am i suppose to make that 350 foot pound? i'm guessing i need a nice torque ranch??.. what size socket is that?

weird.. when i took it out, i could almost turn it with my hands cause it was so loose.. maybe thats why bearings went out.. hmm...

Exactly!

The nut was loose!

Check the other side too.

A half inch drive breaker bar that you can take back to Sears and a three foot piece of heavy wall 3/4" water pipe. Think it's a 24 mm six point impact socket. The Haynes book gives 288 to 340 foot pounds.

A hundred pounds of down force at the end of the three foot pipe slipped over the end of the breaker bar is three hundred foot pounds at the nut. How much do you weigh?

Tighten the nut to 340 Ft Lb's then a little more to line up the first of the two cotter pin holes.

Use a new cotter pin too.

[SoCal Driver]

Just went back and re-read the start of this thread.

I'm sure glad I don't live where there are total dolts doing insurance inspections!

[jykk04]

well.. porsche dealer did really good job inspecting the car.. i juse wish that my previous owner wasn't such a dumbass.. anywyas.. i hope that i can tighten those damn bolts .. though, i would never know how much foot pound i'm putting on..

[SoCal Driver]

Originally posted by jykk04
well.. porsche dealer did really good job inspecting the car.. i juse wish that my previous owner wasn't such a dumbass.. anywyas.. i hope that i can tighten those damn bolts .. though, i would never know how much foot pound i'm putting on..

So a "Porsche Dealer" just told you the rear bearings are loose and didn't add "tighten the heck out of the nuts!!"???

Like I said "dolts".

Buy the way what was the name of the dealer and which lot boy did the inspection?