Fordnatics List Archive

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Mail From: Keith Kucera {82644} <(email redacted)>



How I replaced the passenger side Inner Tie Rod on a 1987 Taurus:

The last time this car needed an inner tie rod, I paid a shop $145,
and then they left the tie rod loose. Luckily I noticed the alignment
had wandered before it came apart and killed me.

This time, I paid $26 for the part and did the work myself in 2 hours.
$59/hour is good pay, (nothing like being your own boss). Besides, I
can't do much worse than the guy I paid to do it last time.

This may seem like a trivial story to most people, but to me, since
I had never done this before, it was all new and I would have
appreciated this kind of information so that I would have known more
about what was really involved. Even the best manual doesn't tell
you everything. So, I've aimed this at the novice.


First I visited a local auto parts place that happens to loan out
tools (just leave a deposit) and borrowed an outer tie rod removal
fork and an inner tie rod removal tool. I also bought the inner
tie rod and some new cotter pins.

Back at home I loosed the lug nuts on the front wheels.

Then I used a jack to raise the front of the car so the
wheels were off the ground and supported the car with jack stands.

Then I removed the passenger side wheel.

Next I turned the steering wheel fully to the left so that the tie
rod was fully extended.

The outer tie rod screws onto the end of the inner tie rod and
is prevented from rotating by a nut tightened down against
it (locked). This is how the toe of the alignment is set.
I counted the number of threads exposed on the inner tie rod.
This allowed me to maintain the original alignment later.

Then I loosened the lock nut on the inner tie rod (was locked
against the outer tie rod).

Next I removed the cotter pin and nut from the bottom of the
outer tie rod's pin.

The outer tie rod removal fork is a handle with a 2 pronged
wedge shaped fork on the end. The outer tie rod is a joint
with a tapered pin that fits into a tapering hole. The idea
is the use the fork to separate the outer tie rod from the hole.
So I positioned the fork under the edge of the base of the outer
tie rod and started hammering on the end of the handle forcing
the wedge shaped prongs under the tie rod. After quite a bit of
hammering it finally came loose.

Next I unscrewed the outer tie rod from the inner and removed
the lock nut from the inner tie rod.

Now I had to remove the boot which covers the inner tie rod's
joint from the steering rack. The boot was held to the steering
rack by a clamp that was kind of difficult to reach since it was
located quite close to one of the engine mounts. I used a wrench
on it from above (through the hood, behind the engine). Once the
clamp was loose and a spring clamp on the small end was removed
with a pair of plyers I as able to slide the boot off of the
inner tie rod.

As I already mentioned, I had the luck of finding an inner tie
rod removal tool. This is basically a 2 foot long socket that
you slip over the entire length of the inner tie rod. The tie
rod is screwed onto the steering rack and was further secured
with a rivet into a concentric groove just beyond the end of
the threads. Using the tool I unscrewed the inner tie rod
(ignoring the rivet, it just broke off). The reason the tool
was useful is that the tie rod is just barely out of reach to
get a wrench on it. It's possible to use a wrench (as you'll
see later), but you have to put it on the rod at an angle
rather than the prefered perpendicular.

So, now I had the rod off. I compared the threads on the outer
end of the old and new rod and found the new one had more threads.
I held the two rods together and found the corresponding thread
that I had counted earlier on the old rod and marked it.

Then I screwed the new rod onto the steering rack. Now it turns out
that the new tie rod had a different sized end so that the tool
wouldn't fit onto it. Therefore, I had to tighten it with a wrench
held at an angle.

After it was tight, I installed a screw-in pin (instead of the
rivet) that came with the new tie rod into a hole in the side
of the rod.

Next I screwed on a new lock nut that came with the rod onto
the inner tie rod.

Then I screwed the outer tie rod onto the inner, stopping in
relation to my thread mark.

Then I inserted the outer tie rod's tapered peg into its mouting
hole and tighted its nut onto its peg.

Then I tighted the lock nut against the outer tie rod and double
checked the thread mark.

Finnally, I installed a new cotter pin in the bottom of the
outer tie rod, installed the wheel, lowered the car and went
for a drive. Perfect.


K e i t h K u c e r a '91 Escort GT S P E A K I N G F O R M Y S E L F
(email redacted) Tewksbury MA N O T, M Y E M P L O Y E R

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: Eugene Y C Chu <(email redacted)>

Keith,

Kieth Kucera described replacing a tie-rod on his Taurus...

I've always been a little uncomfortable with using those pcikle-fork
devices for separating tie rods or ball joints. Yes, if you pound hard
enough on them, you can wedge them in between the tie rod bearing and
the hole that the stud is wedged into. But, all that shock gets
transmitted to other parts as well, and could possibly cause other
damages. If your careful about how you "aim" the fork, you can minimize
shock loads to other components.

My perferred method for separating ball joints and tie rod ends also
involve a big hammer: For ball joints, I place my jack stand as close
to the bottom of the joint as I can. I loosen up the nut from the stud
a few turns so that it rises just above the stud. Or I find another nut
with higher strength if I want to keep the old one, and turn it onto the
stud so that I get as many of its threads on it as possible and still
have it slighty higher than the stud. Then, I pound on the nut. With
the jack stand support directly underneath, most of the impact goes into
dislodging the stud from the hole. I can always get it loose on the
third good whack. This is a little more difficult with upper ball
joints, but it can be done. The outer tie rod can be loosened in a
similar fashion. Inner tie rods are a little more complicated, but I've
managed to use similar procedures with good results. This method will
leave the rubber grease seals intact, which is necessary if you are just
disassembling the components and not for replacement. Most pickle
forks will destroy the seals.

eyc