Tie rod ends Help

deadheart

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Tie Rod ends....ok does anyone know how to put these suckers in, I have never been scared to do anything in a car as long as a wrench of mine fits the part, but I have never done this before, anyone have any tips? How to mark the position, n such. Also I was only able to buy the inners, they dont make the outers aftermarket. Should I replace them both? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
I try to only buy OEM, unless it's something like a ball joint where Lincoln only wants to sell the whole control arm. The outer tie rod is available from MAx @ 5star for like 47 dollars.

I just replaced the drivers side outer tie rod. You should get an alignment done right after changing tie rods anyways, so just make it close. And make sure that your alignment is scheduled for like the next morning or something.
 
your going to need a couple tools, not HARD at all!!!! jack car,take wheel off, 2 bolts, might need a vise grip to hold the top of the bolt to turn the nut, or one of those ball joint separator forks, may need a hammer, THIS IS A EASY JOB!! got to order the tie rod though from somewhere... alignment needed after
 
You might be in for a great time. BTW, the inner tie rods are not normally a wear item, and getting them out might be a real adventure for nothing. They just don't wear out. And you're talking about pulling the steering rack boots off in order to change those things.

Anyway, if your outer tie rods are gone, you need to remove the wheel, remove the brake caliper, throw a 18 mm long or deep socket on the top of the tie rod and break it free. Also loosen the jamb nut on the inner tie rod where it locks the setting for the alignment adjustment for toe. Now get a 7 or 8 mm six point socket ready for the hex holding feature of the tie rod end, and place an 18 mm ratcheting box end wrench on the nut for the tie rod. Oh, wire brush the crap out of the exposed threads of the tie rod end and shoot some PB blaster on the threads. Hold the hex end of the ball joint shaft of that tie rod end and start removing the 18 mm nut. If you get it turning, keep turning it while holding the stud end of that ball joint shaft with the small socket. Once it comes off, you'll need to hold the inner tie rod splined shaft and then start turning the outer tie rod end off that shaft. Normal right handed thread rules apply to both sides. I just did this job on my 2000 and lemme tell you, it was awful. I needed torch heat to even get the tie rod to start turning. It took three heatings to get it all the way off (20-25 full turns) while pulling with two hands and a 15" wrench on the tie rod. Probably one of the hardest wrenchings I have ever done. Add to that the inner tie rod absolutely is a flexible moving object and you have to find some way to hold that thing steady while you reek on it with a BF wrench. I used vise grips on the inner tie rod's splines and held that to the lower control arm with a vise grip chain wrench. Not a pleasant job. I'd let a front end alignment guy do this next time after seeing how badly this went. I moved to the other side and it was only half as bad. The kicker was that just 3 weeks earlier, I had it aligned and they told me they needed the flame wrench to adjust the toe because the tie rods were frozen onto the inner tie rods. The really bad news is that the ball joint on my right tie rod was bad at the time of the alignment so I wasted $75 bucks, since there was plenty of play on that tie rod end and the car was all over the place while trying to drive it straight.

One other thing to do if you are doing this yourself: count the exposed threads sticking out of the tie rod end (inner tie rod threads protruding out of the tie rod end and toward the wheel) and paint a little index mark at the top of the inner tie rod so that you know exactly which part of the turn that rod was at, and put on the new end and have the right number of threads exposed and that inner tie rod indexed to where it belongs, you'll be close to where you were.

Or, just have the front end alignment shop do it for you.

No ball joint separator needed, these parts just fall out of the steering knuckle when you get the nut loose and off. That is why you need to employ the hex holding feature once you break the nut free.
 
Thanks guys, I just did the outers, and I returned the inners, you were right btw the inners were a waste of money, My passenger side was a mess... really loose, but frozen on the inner tie rod Driver side I did just cause I had the part. what a pain in the rear. I would have never of thought to heat it up so that was the bit of info I needed. Not done though.... after I get the tie rods done, it still had play, the ball joint is bad too. so im just parking it till I find a ball joint, cause I am not paying for a whole new arm. Thanks again guys.

PS: Who is Max @ 5star? is that a good place to buy suspension parts or something?
 
max.s contact info is in the add for 5 star ford on the right side of the page. i order all my parts from him. except for the lower ball joint since you have to buy the whole control arm from ford. go on ebay, and buy the ball joint from seller euromarque. quality part, and you don.t need to buy the whole arm.
 

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