Tie Rod End

[coke]

I bought a new tie rod end around a year ago, and meant to put it on. Never did. Tossed it in my console for a better day (which apparently never came). Well needless to say the day has come to put it on and I have noticed that the threaded end is cocked off sideways, likely from rummaging around in my console. I was under the impression that they weren't supposed to move at all?

I don't know what the guts of the end looks like under the boot, but does this sound normal? Should it move from side to side while out of the vehicle?

[Fatmobile]

It should be stiff but able to be moved.

[coke]

Ok, its stiff, but able to be moved. Guess its golden. Thanks Fatmobile.

[DanHoug]

yeah, you're fine and brand new. if any tie rod end is loose and floppy, it is time for a new one. i've taken some out that were terrifyingly loose. you should notice a good difference in steering tightness and stability over bumps. it is a good, cheap, easy fix to increase your safety.

it's nice when you get new bolts with the new end. they are hardened and aren't expensive as a kit. then you can just snap the old ones off, pull the end out of the frame, and go new.

-dan

[the vegenator]

If you count the threads or measure the distance from the inner tie rod to the end of the outer tie rod, you could use that for reference for the part. Will keep you from having to get an alignment.

And if anyone reads this that is considering doing an inner tie rod, for the love of Bentley, use an appropriate inner tie rod crows foot socket (not sure what they're called). And use thread locking fluid.

Never revealed til now that my inner tie rod came so loose that it popped off of the rack as the alignment shop was pulling it off the lift. They spotted it and put it back on after an hour of work. I paid for their time and left with my tail between my legs.

[coke]

The shop thats putting the tie rod on is doing an alignment too. I've counted threads and marked and scribed before and never got a new one on to the point where I felt like it was aligned properly. Close, but not close enough for me.

[surfcam]

I've always done my own alignments. I have only check the toe not the camber. I came across a web site that does both so I thought I would give it a go. Some people that do drag racing are saying that it's better that laser alignment and has lower there times on the track.
http://www.negative-camber.org/jam149/t ... nment.html

[Homer T. Coyote]

Just thought I would throw in my two cents. There was a question about the innards of a ball joint and as it's name implies it is a ball and socket. I used to grind the finish on these working for a machine company. I would take the forged blanks and stick the threaded end into an arbor, which was a piece of 3/4 round stock about 8" long and put it between two wheels about 20" or so in diameter. They were directly opposite of each other and one was the feed wheel and the other was a grinding wheel. Both had a half moon concave shape to match the ball. The feed wheel was spinning also( turning the opposite direction of the grinding wheel) and would move in pushing the part against the grinding wheel while turning the part so as to put a nice finish on the round ball end. Imagine taking your bench grinder and only grinding in the center of the wheel. Eventually the middle will wear leaving the sides higher and that will give you an idea. You had to keep the machine adjusted and grinding the correct amount off to stay in tolerance. What stunk was when someone didn't check the their parts enough and they turned out parts out of tolerance. We would have to stay late going through hundreds sometimes thousands of parts mic'ing each one and culling the out of tolerance ones. Another company made the sockets and it wasn't good if the balls were to big or too small. If this is redundant information please forgive, but just thought i would add it.