inner tie rod removal

Does the rack and pinion unit need to be removed to repalce inner tie rods on '94 silohuette? I saw a tool advertised as being able to remove them without taking the rack out. Is this true? Does this tool really work? When front end is lifted, both wheels move considerably from side to side but not top to bottom. Any advice is appreciated, Thanks!!! :)

Are you sure it's not the outer tie rods? I've already replaced both of mine within 90,000 miles on my 2001. The only tricky part is to count the number of turns to take the old one off, the same number of turns to put it back on. The nut is torqued to 20ft lbs plus an additional 120deg turn or two flat spots on the nut. Don't over torque, the A-Arm is aluminum and will crack (don't ask me how I know).

The inner tie rod end should be able to come out without removing the steering rack using the tool you mentioned. It's basically a crows foot with a huge extention. Impact gun, I've been told helps alot.

Good luck.

Thanks for the help! I guess I'm not really sure if the problem is the inner or outer. When I grabbed the wheel and moved it back and forth the inner tie rod moved in and out. What's the best way to tell? Would this diagnosis work, 1) remove tie rod ends 2) grab inner tie rod and push/pull on it for play. Would this indicate that the inners are bad? Correct me if I'm wrong. I know if the tie rod ends have any loose movement on the stud then they are bad. Maybe I should just replace everything but money's tight. I finally found the necessary tool for loan for free at AutoZone. Any more thoughts? Thanks again Man!!!

When you raise one side at a time and grab the wheel at 3 and 9 o'clock and rock back and forth, you should be able to rule out the outer tie rod. It won't be visibly loose. Doing this with both wheels in the air, you may be feeling looseness in the rack. If you hear or feel a knock by the steering rack, then it's probably the inner. Another way is to have someone in the car and move the steering wheel back and forth a couple of inches. Go under the car and see what's loose.

How does the car drive on the highway? Any vibrations? Darting back and forth?

BTW: If you need the inner, double check the Autozone loaner tool to see if it fits the replacement part. My Autozone, Napa, Advance Auto did not have the right tool.

I finally did it. I replaced the inner tie rods. After removing the wheel, tie rod end and locking nut, I slipped a screwdriver under the boot clamp and pried it off. From the driver side you pry it off from the wheel well area, from the passenger side I crawled under the vehicle and pried it off. Getting the boot off was time consuming. It was stuck on pretty good. I wire brushed the rust off where the boot meets the tie rod and sprayed some PB blaster where the boot meets the tie rod and also where the boot meets the rack and pinion housing to loosen it up and just grabbed hold of the boot and worked it back and forth and left and right until it finally popped off. It took a while. There is very limited working room to reach in and grab things but it's possible. There is a blue hard plastic cover surrounding the inner tie rod housing (shock dampener) that I pried and cut off too even though the shop manual says to just slide it back. With the inner tie rod in plain view now, I fit the inner tie rod socket over the flats while I slipped the long tube part of the tool over the socket and turned it with everything I had. I used a small vice grips to lock onto the rack so it wouldn't also turn while I removed the tie rod. This is recommended so you won' t damage the rack gears while turning the tie rod out. This also took some time. After It didn't come off, I took a break for some lunch. Finally got it off. The new one went on Ok but getting the boot back on was somewhat difficult. I backed it off and applied some grease on the contact points and it goes on a little easier. Don't forget to slip a new clamp on before you push the boot back on. I used a regular band clamp that you tighten with screwdriver because there is just no way to get one of those crimper tools in there without taking the whole rack out. You can also tighten it with a 5/16 socket wrench, which is what I used since there isn't no room to manuever a screwdriver in there. I put the clamp on the boot and tightened it just enough to not allow it to slip off while I pushed it on the rack. there is a small tube next to the rack that a small cap on the boot slips over, it is a breather tube. Line that up and make sure it is pushed on. I didn't install a new shock dampener. I don't really know exactly what they do and I just wanted to get done now. So now I counted my turns on the tie rod end and installed a new castle nut and cotter pin and put the wheel back on. DONE!!! It test drove just fine. I'll get it aligned later.

Thanks for the help Milo!!

Glad it worked out for you.

I finally did it. I replaced the inner tie rods. After removing the wheel, tie rod end and locking nut, I slipped a screwdriver under the boot clamp and pried it off. From the driver side you pry it off from the wheel well area, from the passenger side I crawled under the vehicle and pried it off. Getting the boot off was time consuming. It was stuck on pretty good. I wire brushed the rust off where the boot meets the tie rod and sprayed some PB blaster where the boot meets the tie rod and also where the boot meets the rack and pinion housing to loosen it up and just grabbed hold of the boot and worked it back and forth and left and right until it finally popped off. It took a while. There is very limited working room to reach in and grab things but it's possible. There is a blue hard plastic cover surrounding the inner tie rod housing (shock dampener) that I pried and cut off too even though the shop manual says to just slide it back. With the inner tie rod in plain view now, I fit the inner tie rod socket over the flats while I slipped the long tube part of the tool over the socket and turned it with everything I had. I used a small vice grips to lock onto the rack so it wouldn't also turn while I removed the tie rod. This is recommended so you won' t damage the rack gears while turning the tie rod out. This also took some time. After It didn't come off, I took a break for some lunch. Finally got it off. The new one went on Ok but getting the boot back on was somewhat difficult. I backed it off and applied some grease on the contact points and it goes on a little easier. Don't forget to slip a new clamp on before you push the boot back on. I used a regular band clamp that you tighten with screwdriver because there is just no way to get one of those crimper tools in there without taking the whole rack out. You can also tighten it with a 5/16 socket wrench, which is what I used since there isn't no room to manuever a screwdriver in there. I put the clamp on the boot and tightened it just enough to not allow it to slip off while I pushed it on the rack. there is a small tube next to the rack that a small cap on the boot slips over, it is a breather tube. Line that up and make sure it is pushed on. I didn't install a new shock dampener. I don't really know exactly what they do and I just wanted to get done now. So now I counted my turns on the tie rod end and installed a new castle nut and cotter pin and put the wheel back on. DONE!!! It test drove just fine. I'll get it aligned later.

I want to thank you for this writeup. It was excellent.

A few more details:

1. To remove the boot clamp, it was easiest to crawl under the van and twist at the crimp-point of the clamp. With a little effort, the clamp springs loose.

2. The breather tube actually connects to the opposite-side bellows. If you PULL the tube for any reason, it will disconnect at the opposite side. So when installing, push only.

3. The blue plastic cover can be slid off by tapping it with a screwdriver and hammer around the front face edge. Upon re-install, run a little grease or oil on the joint to ease replacing the cover, and it will press on with both hands.

4. Rather than vice grips on the rack gears, manuals recommend using an adjustable wrench. You'll have to wedge the handle with something to hold the wrench in position. The wrench handle will point up in the opening - there is enough space there. I used a 2x2 wood beam or rubber-handled hammer to wedge the wrench.

One thing I didn't see stated, was after the inner tie rod is installed and tightened, you should peen the inner tie rods....they are peened at the flats.....

Old posts / threads prove relevant and useful....since they relate to vehicles of same period. Mine is a '93( and yours is..???) and I had to go through that chore quite early...so I'm just curious to know if that operation was the first on that car....
I had the R&P taken out of tha car when I did the inners,,,.....and years after, got to change the whole R&P (coming with new inners) for a corroded tubing on the rack. As I had to take it out, I chose to change it all for the same effort....