tie rod ends - replacement?
 

anyone done this? The outers look pretty easy. haven't gotten underneath and given the inner ones a serious look. I think mine are gone. I've got some major clunkage going on, specifically when the wheel is turned from right to left.

Thanks

Very easy to do... Lift the up both front wheels up in the air then turn the steering wheel to the left or right so the rod move out farter from the engine it will give you more room to work on each side.You need to remove the clamp using flat head scew driver the slide the boot out....and you need an open wrench 38mm to remove the inner tie end rod.

It's most likely your front rear control arms.

nope. everything in the front end except the struts is new. everything. other than the tie rods. When you turn the wheel back and forth, at any speed, you can reproduce the clunking, and my alignment shop (which specializes in all things that go fast, and a ton of european track car stuff...both in BMW and Porsche) conclude with me that it is definitely the tie rods. They get replaced tomorrow...and an alignment...

Let me know how it goes? Are you doing both sides inner and outer?

I am getting the inner and outers replaced next week on both sides.

I'm doing both inner and outers. You can't buy just the inners aftermarket - either comes at outers only, or as an assembly. Figured all new was best. Really looking forward to getting this done tomorrow, I"m sick of the clunk. I"ll post how things turn out.

Got the tie rods replaced. Fairly easy job. New tie rods didnt' come with new boots, so I wound up re-using the old ones, I cut the stainless retainer on the large end, and replaced it with a ring clamp (hey, I had two in the garage that fit). Wound up taking the sawzall to cut the old tie-rod assembly in half to get the boots off. There's no way an alignment would have been possible, the old tie rods were simply completely seized.

Got the alignment, they said it was out - and it was, according to the computer. I can't tell much, if any, difference in the way it drives.

Clunk wound up not being a tie-rod, but rather a new endlink that had given up the ghost on day one. So he got replaced today, and all is quiet with the X.

Nice to have quiet again, and a completely new front suspension.

How were you able to determine one of the new end links died? Did you do this with the vehicle up on the rack or ? :dunno:

Vehicle was up on the rack, could move the link by hand, it had a significant amount of play. Felt bad about replacing the tight tie-rods, but, the alignment shop told me that they probably would have had to replace them anyway, as I couldn't get them separated.

are they the same as the link rods or chopsticks?

No. endlinks attach the swaybar to the hub assembly/knuckle. Tie rods attach the steering rack to the hub assembly/knuckle.
There's really not a good diagram on Realoem. If you look under the car though, you can see what I'm talking about. There are basically 3 sets of iron rods that attach to the hub assembly (what the tire bolts to). Two of those sets bolt onto the frame rail, and have rubber bushings on the frame rail side.

the other iron rod, is linked to the very forward portion of the hub/knuckle, and about 8" away, has a rubber "bellow" - or dust protector on it. If you look you'll see that this disappears up into "nowhere". under that bellow, is a bolt, that screws into the steering rack, which is connected to the steering wheel. The links connecting the steering wheel to the hub/knuckle are called tie-rods. there is an inner tie-rod (the one that bolts into the steering rack) and an outer tie rod (that is a threaded shaft that screws into the outer tie rod). Those threads allow for adjustment to get the alignment correct. Which is why you have to have an inner and an outer. And...in this case...if yours are seized, which happens sometimes, in order to get an alignment, you'll have to replace the tie rods to allow movement in the front end. I seriously doubt my car had been aligned since leaving the factory.

Hopefully that helps...

thanks for the reply fella, ok well i reckon it is my chopsitcks (sway bar link rods) as i get cluttering noises over speed humps or potholes, funny or scary thing is that the vehicle passed its bi-annual inspection and was not noticed....from what i gather you got noises up front when turning the steering wheel....

Yeah, replace those sway bar endlinks first. Typically, they cause noise. tie rods dont' really cause much noise, but do cause slop in the steering.