Thunderbird Tie Rods?

[Calabrio]

We know that the Mark VIII uses the same lower control arm as the Thunderbird.
And the upper control arm is virtually the same, minus the mount for the air ride height sensor.

So, are the Tie-Rods the same as well? Are the '96 Thunderbird Tie-Rod ends the same as on the Mark VIII?

 

[shiryu0]

everything is the same, except the UCA's (cause of the air suspension)........now if you do a coil conversion, then its ALL T-Bird parts...............

 

[Calabrio]

I'm not sure of the answer to this one.
Last time I did the Tie Rods I ordered the parts from MotorCraft.

Today, I went to all the different stores and asked for T-Bird tie rods. I was given a tie rod that was a little bit shorter and lighter than what I currently had on there. Both TRW and the "Duralast" part met this description.

So I went to Napa. They didn't have the MarkVIII tie-rod, but they did have the T-bird. They were the same size, but a little lighter.

So what does this mean?
Either the T-Bird one is smaller (but then why was Napa the same size?)

...or I suspect that TRW and the aftermarket are selling slightly smaller than stock tie rods for the car.

 

[formerknown]

TRW is Moog. The difference in the two is probably because they made improvements over the Motorcraft's version. The T-Bird one should work fine.

 

[shiryu0]

mine looked a little different compared to the factory ones, but same length, i got moog's..........same for the sway bar links, the stock ones were straight, the moogs were angled, dont know why........but they work