MOOG Tie-Rod Ends vs OEM

no. I just pumped some grease in there until the boot bulged a bit.

 

I could be wrong, but I don't think counting rotations would work if you changed brands.

Toe is fairly easy to do yourself in your garage. If you wanted to try and "replace to match" I'd suggest marking the inner and measuring to the center of the outer.

 

Counting rotations definitely depends on the length of the tie rod end. I'll probably get a piece of twine and measure before I disassemble anything.

 

I have the same problem happen to me with the exact same part from moog. the passenger side ripped the first time and after replacing now both sides are torned. rubber boots are too big, defective part IMO

 

Terrible to hear that.

 

Did you fill the boots with grease prior to installation?

Did you fill until grease oozed out?

 

My Moogs came in today. Gonna try it the @teamhypoxia way this weekend.

 

You're going to wait 5 months before adding any grease to them?

 

2 years and so far all looks good. FWIW I greased them after installing.

 

Hey...what works, works. Who am I to question it?

 

You'll want an alignment

This^

 

I did not grease prior to install. I installed then put grease until it oozed out. Is that not the proper method? was I suppose to just
install then put a little grease but not until it oozed out?

 

By filling it until it oozes means you broke the seal. If grease can get out, means dirt and water can get in. You may be able to push out the excess and maybe it will reseal, if not just keep an eye on it especially if you go off road or under water.

 

This makes sense, so does that mean the grease seals on the u-joints work under a different principle? The method for greasing the u-joints is "pump until grease oozes out".

I installed mine yesterday and just greased them until they ballooned up (but no grease oozed out yet). At first, when installed, they boots will be collapsed/folded on themselves, but once you pump enough grease in there it pushes the boot outward and looks like post #49. That's how I left mine.

 

In regards to U joints over the last 30 years I have seen mfg's change from not breaking the seal to pump til it comes out. U joint operates in a different manner as it is spinning while in use, which may make it harder for dirt to get in. But water will still kill a joint so it would be a good practice to grease if going off road a lot or if its submerged.
I used to work in the commercial off road trucking and Rule #1 across the board is to grease the equipment weekly if not more often. Grits of silica will kill a million dollar machine quicker than one would think.
Back to your issue, if it doesnt stop leaking just keep it greased more often depending on where you drive.

 

Thanks, that's something I need to remember. My truck doesn't see a lot of rocks, but when it leaves pavement it's usually wet/muddy/sandy, so I gotta remember to grease afterwards.

 

this is a tad bit off subject but i can anyone explain to me why my tie rod ends are "upside down"? every tacoma i see besides mine seem to be 180º from how mine are. does it matter if they go this way or not?

 

I wondered the same (mine are pointing up). I don't know that it makes a difference except that the part where it connects to the spindle is coned with the larger diameter face pointing down. If it actually doesn't matter, that could be a way of getting half a rotation's worth of fine tuning out of them for toe alignment.

Although the factory service manual shows them pointing up.

 

if you notice, my tie rod ends are so dam close to the rim that i was barely able to fit a credit card between the tie rod end and the rim. so i ground it down some to get it away from the rim. (after i put the lift kit on with the new knuckle)
do yall think its possible that the shop installed my tie rod end upside down?

 

That is a truck with a drop bracket kit, if you look close you can see that it is not an OE spindle. DB kits flip the TRE over like that to maintain proper steering geometry with a 6" lift. It is to prevent bump steer. That is also why you hear that drop brack kits require an 18" rim with 4.5 backspacing. That guy clearly has 17" rims and his TRE probably hits the rim at droop.