Tie rods

I just went to the dealer this afternoon to get a wheel alignment. I have not had one in 2 years and I put on new wheel spacers, wheels, and tires on and lifted my rear suspension so I wanted to make sure everything is set right.

The service guy said that the right outer tie rod has a lot of play and needs replacement. I opted to just do the alignment and I'll look into parts replacement myself. The dealer wanted $450 to replace the single outer tie rod.

How do I test the tie rods for play? Do I just try to wiggle the wheel back and forth like I would to check ball joints?

Also, if I replace the outer tie rod, should I just replace the inner and the sleeve too or is this unnecessary work if it's not showing signs of play?

If it has slop by shaking the wheel with it off the ground it needs replaced. For $450 you should get a new set of tires included. I haven't looked at mine but it's generally a 1/2 hour job to replace it. I'll be generous and give the dealer 1 hour to do it @ $100 per hour overhead plus about $40 for parts. You do the math. New sleeve not required.

I jacked up the passenger side wheel and jiggled it by hand. There is a slight wobble side to side. It is very minute but it is there. I can't tell for sure if it's the outer tie rod or something else along the steering line.

I looked at the outer tie rod and didn't notice any motion on it what so ever. How can I, or the Ford tech determine whether it's the bearing or outer tie rod that's the problem?

To get an idea of the movement of the tire side-to-side, at the outermost part of the tire, it moves maybe 1mm in and out when wobbled back and forth. It does not move up and down. I did not check the other side to compare but I will be tomorrow.

You really need to look at the steering parts while you "shake" the jacked up wheel right and left to see where it is loose. It helps a lot to have another person. The dealer probably had it on a rack and looked for slop while he was standing under the car moving the wheel from the inside. Only one person required. If it was a bearing you would get slop by shaking the wheel in any direction. Your car has wheel bearings that are not adjustable and if you have slop there it needs a new hub assy. About $50 to $80 but I think your dealer would have found that. As far as the tie rod goes, the toe in adjustment tolerances are pretty tight and any movement would cause it to not stay within tolerance.

It is definitely the outer tie rod like the said. I jacked up both sides, locked the steering wheel and got under and had a helper jiggle the wheels.

The outer tie rod has a bit of play in it. The idler arm also has a tiny bit of play in it. It may not be bad yet but it looks like that's the next thing to get out of spec.

How hard of a job is it to replace the outer tie rod and idler arm? What tools will I need? Things are pretty rusted under there being in NE Ohio winters for the last 10 years.

I can't look at mine right now. The wifes car is in an airport parking lot in Columbus. Maybe way2old will chime in. Here is my best guess without looking. You will need a Tie rod tool http://www.harborfreight.com/16-inch-tie-rod-separator-1759.html
Remove the cotter pin and nut, use the tool to loosen the tapered tie rod bolt from the spindle. loosen the lock nut and unscrew the tie rod end. When you screw in the new one try to get it close to the same position as your old one. That will be close enough to get you to an alignment shop. All you will need is the toe in set but many shops will not do that by itself, they want to sell you a full alignment. Many times in the past I have loosened the taper bolt without a tool. Take out the cotter pin and loosen the nut. Take a big ugly hammer and hit the spindle where the bolt goes thru in one spot as many times as it takes. This will slightly swell the taper hole allowing the pin to fall out.