Front end noise

[Bythepond88]

Thanks, tomj. I found a youtube video where they marked the old one with electrical tape at the edge of the outer end, then marked the new one at the same distance. I think I'll do that as well as counting the turns in case the new tie rod isn't exactly the same length as the old one.

[tempfixit]

You may want to double check your steering rack to make sure it is ok with both inner tie rods being loose, hate to see you do all the work and find out your rack is bad.

[Bythepond88]

Thank you tempfixit. How do I go about checking the rack?

[tempfixit]

Here is a video that should help.

http://youtu.be/DMN-2R_fSz4

[scubacat]

Remember that a new rack comes with new inner tie rods. Food for thought in case it has issues. (No sense replacing them separately if the rack is worn or leaking...)

[Bythepond88]

Thanks, Scubacat. I don't think there are any problems with the rack. The steering has always been very responsive, and doesn't make noise. Other than looking for leaks, is there anything else I should check regarding the rack?

[Bythepond88]

Update - blessed silence. Over the week-end, I replaced the control arms and the left front hub. She started making a scary rattling noise on Thursday in addition to the roaring noise. When I jacked her up to get started, I did the "wiggle test" on both tires, and when I grabbed the left front at 12 and 6, there was noticeable movement, so I ran out and picked up a new hub. I'd had the hub replaced a number of years back, so I never suspected it. It probably didn't start to really disintegrate until this past week, which is why the shop didn't catch it. Now I'm wondering whether the right front was bad to begin with. I figured it had to be the culprit because it was still original. That old ass-u-me thing again.

Anyway, the left side came out and the new one went back in a lot more easily than the right side.

I tried to do the tie rods, too, but the tool from Auto Zone is not the right kind for these tie rod ends, so it looks like I'll have to have the shop do them. I was thinking about going to Advance or O'Reilly's to see if they had the right tool, then I thought I remembered that there is also a pin that has to be driven out. If so, I don't see any way to get in there to do it (just getting the inner boot hold down band was bad enough), and I'm not about to mess with taking the rack out myself. Am I correct that there's a pin that has to be removed? My Haynes manual does not have a section for the inner tie rod r&r.
Even though the noise is gone, when I was working with the tie rods, getting the boots off, I could tell that they were much looser than the replacements.

[12Ounce]

Glad you are making progress. I would advise using the hammer sparingly or not at all around the hubs ... the bearing races can be easily fractured with "impacts". I have been lucky with my 99 ... it has original hubs and bearings with nearly 400k miles. But I have never use a hammer when doing any work around the hubs. I have replaced the struts and lower control arms .. once.
.
On the other hand, I have replaced the rack a couple of/few times ... and the tie rod "outers" probably 3 or 4 times. I have never tried to replace the "inners" because they come with a new rack. Many aftermarkets sell racks with a lifetime warranty ... so you only have to buy once. Worn racks scare me, and I wonder how many accidents they have caused ... with no one understanding "what happened" ..."why did this person steer into traffic"?

[Bythepond88]

Thank you 12Ounce. I only use a hammer for getting the old hub free of the knuckle, not for installation. So far, I have not had a problem with the rack, so I'm just going to replace the rods for now, money is very tight.

[tomj76]

Autozone has an adapter tool that you need to use as well as the usually inner tie rod extension tool. Take the new tie rod with you to the store to check that everything fits when you pick up the tools.

[Bythepond88]

Thanks, tomj. When I took everything back to Auto Zone, I was told that that was the only tool they had for tie rods. Besides, if there is a pin that has to be driven out, I don't see any way to do that, given the way the rack is buried up there. I think this is a time to recognize my limitations and let the pros do it.

[tomj76]

Well, even if you get a professional to do it, for those readers who wish to perform the job, the adpater is call a "Tie Rod Adapter (Saginaw)" and the P/N at Autozone is 27042. It's listed under a couple of additional P/Ns.

As for the pin, they're usually made from aluminium, so turning the end shears off the pin without removing it first. It doesn't take very much torque on the end to accomplish this.

[Bythepond88]

Thanks, Tomj. What about installing the new pin?

[scubacat]

If you can't get the pin in, you can just loctite the threads. It should be fine. Others may disagree but that's what I did on mine at least.

[12Ounce]

Actually installing the pin should not be a great problem. The idea is to drive the aluminum pin into the steel threads and the pin mushrooming in its cavity in such a way that it acts as a thread-lock. Pretty effective, but there have been stories of failures ... and the rod end un-threading itself. Pretty scary ... but one should be able to detect something major is going wrong, I would think, before an accident occurs. As I wrote, I no longer do this task ... and just replace the whole rack at one time.