Tie rod question

[mikeran]

I have my sons 944 in for an alignment and the shop is saying the inner tie rods don't have any adjustment left in them, and need to be replaced. I thought the outer tie rods threaded onto the inner tie rods and that was the adjustment, why would the inner tie rods ever need to be replaced?

[exitwound]

The inners are a ball n socket joint as far as I remember. The outers have the adjustment threads on them. But the inners thread into the steering rack if I recall.

[Slam]

Could be so much play in the ball and socket that it can't be properly taken up by toe-out.

[krystar]

was the car in accident or something? i've never moved the inner tie rod for alignment. just outer tie rod threaded into the tie rod end.

[TexasBlake]

The problem could lie in the fact that there is a flange that you hammer down into the steering shaft, kind of like a wheel bearing retainer. When you try and take the inners out, you usually just have to break the flange where you knocked it down. If they've been removed a few times, there may not be enough flange in the area to knock down when they are tightened.




I tore mine all to **** when I took mine off, so I just bought new ones. Plus there is a ball and socket joint, and since I was replacing my entire steering system, I figured I'd change that joint too.

[mikeran]

No accident just 200K miles on them, I compared them to another set I had and sure enough the ball joint was so sloppy I can understand now why they needed to be replaced.

Thanks

[kevinbly]

I had an eerily similar problem when I had my car in the shop for an alignment a few years ago. It turned out that the PO had the rack replaced by someone who did not know what they were doing and the rack was not centered properly. (Look at the steering rack removal/install instructions at Clarks-Garage.com, section 9.0 rack installation, item #1)

While they lined up the front wheels and the steering wheel, you could tell it was not correct as you could turn farther left than right before hitting the stops.

When I had it in for an alignment, they made the same claim, they could not get enough adjustment from the tie rods. Once the rack was centered properly, the problem was solved. I too bought a new pair of tie rods for no reason.

You may or may not have the same problem, but I thought it may be something to look at.

Good luck.

Kevin B.