[norteno]

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.