Inner Tie Rod Stripped at Dealer Need Opinions.

Hey everyone,

I just took my 2009 tacoma to the dealership for my outer tie rods to be replaced (both L and R). I tried to get alignments from two other shops and they mentioned they couldn't do the alignment due to the tie rods being seized. I'm currently in an apartment and didn't want to spend a whole day raising my blood pressure and cussing trying to replace them myself. After a hefty fee and a cold one by the pool I picked up my tacoma and looked at the new outers to make sure they looked good.

I looked under my truck and noticed my inner tie rods were looking awfully shiny. It looks like multiple layers of metal have been stripped off the inner tie rods. I'm no structural engineer but I'm thinking this looks pretty sketchy.

Anyways, I'd like to hear your opinion on it, safe or not so safe to be driving on? I contacted the dealership already to see what they might do about it. I've attached before and afters showing the damage.


Drivers side before
drivers side after passenger side after (don't have a good before of this one and doesn't seem as bad)

Thanks for any help!

Matt

 

That's from some asshole taking a pipe wrench to the tie rods to turn them in/out.

 

Fullboogie,

I figured as much, I know a lot of folks use those to get outers/inners out but hot dang, when you mess one up that bad wouldn't you think to maybe replace it too?

 

I say that asshole did you a favor & used a pipe wrench to get your wheels into alignment so you don't have to buy more parts. Sheesh - It's just superficial marks.

 

All these stories I hear about dealerships. Wow.

take it back and show them.

 

How else do you expect them to hold the tie rod in place while they remove a seized part. There is no damage to the inner tie rod from that fresh metal, if anything a small coat of paint over it would cover any "wear marks". If you didn't want to cough up the coin for new inner tie rods, then that's what it's going to look like. I say the dealership was honest and did a good job, they could have just told you you needed inner and outer tie rods and charged you for 2 more components you didn't need replaced.

 

You only use the hex flats on the inner tie rod to turn the rod in and out that's IT, you use the flats on the outer tie rod to hold roll when breaking loose the jam nut. Also the jam nut torque isn't that high.

The tech that chewed these up owes you new inner tie rods. I would be PISSED!

This is coming from someone who used to work for a dealer.

Looks like they sent your shit to lube line and didn't have a line tech actually work on it.

They definitely didn't know what they were doing.

 

They could have used a better tool for the job for sure. From the looks of it they tried gripping from multiple places on the ITRE before it finally broke free. At that point if OP is that upset maybe he could get a new set of ITREs from the dealer but I would just be installing them myself rather than take to the guy that marred up the first set of tie rods. I'm not that picky and tie rods usually only last me a year or two at best before I'm replacing again though LOL

 

Only a year!?

I feel like you might be doing something wrong...

Are you buying aftermarket?

 

yes I get the cheapest ones, typically moog. They bend before the joint wears out, cheaper than replacing a rack though.

 

I guess...

OE rack? Did you do the poly bushings?

 

i haven’t messed with the bushings yet, it’s all OE as far as I know I bought the truck with 10k miles on it.

 

I'm wondering if your bushings are worn slap out and the slop is allowing enough movement of the rack to give the wheels leverage on your system instead of the forces being linear leading to your bending issues.

 

I don’t believe that’s it, mostly due to just off-road abuse and poor decision making combined with larger tires. They don’t bend until I’m using it off-road.

 

Thanks everyone for the opinions,

Sounds like it's safe to drive on but the job could have been done better. If both inner tie rod ends looked like the passenger side one I wouldn't be as concerned. The drivers side one looks like they took off quite a few layers, that seems like it would make the whole thing weaker especially over time and off-road use.

I would have absolutely forked out the cash for new inners if they called after getting the outers off and told me the inners were going to look like this.

 

just scratches... i dont think the integrity has been diminished. he saved you money...

 

When I completely rebuilt my front end, ALL bushings and wear parts. The most worn out parts out of everything were the inner tie rods. There is not a lot of talk on TW about replacing them, seems like a must to me out of the gate.

 

And with the title of this thread, I was expecting an inner tie rod with no threads to screw into the rack...

 

It appears that you live in the rust belt. I'll throw this out there just because and something to talk about. Wouldn't it be more productive to try and sue the state for putting salt or road chemicals on the road for public safety that destroys private property? Look, if you did that to someone's private property they'd sue you.

 

Definitely amateur hour, and worth complaining about, but not in any way unsafe or damaged beyond cosmetically. Don't expect anything from the dealer but a shrug - it seems pretty clear to me that no heat was used. Two minutes with the rosebud, a couple of swipes with the wire brush, and a squirt of weasel piss, and those would have come right out. You got the first-year apprentice who didn't know better.