Tie rods

How do I know if they need to be replaced? The right side boot is ripped on one. Truck has 387K on it. Ball joints have been replaced. Tundra brake upgrade done about 15K ago. The reason I'm asking is yesterday had to do a 70 mph panic stop and the truck swerved real quick to the left then back to the right.

 

Take the weight of the truck off of a front wheel. Grab the wheel in the 3 and 9 o'clock positions and see if you get any movement. Movement is this direction is either tie rod or steering rack. If there is movement, you should be able to see where it is.

 

If your changing the outer Tie Rods make sure the adjusting nuts are free before going for your alignment

 

yep. I got a little movement. Thanks.

 

Remind me to never replace tie rods again. Almost 7 hours later and they're done. The shop that aligned it told me they would have done 'em for $90 bucks.

 

7 hours?????

 

you must have not had this tool that makes it a 5 minute job to do them

$50 OTC 7315A Universal Tie Rod End Remover

http://www.amazon.com/OTC-7315A-Uni...5LJ3M/ref=cm_cr_pr_sims_t/183-4623116-4369548

 

You probably can manage without that if you have an impact gun.

7 hours?! It should only take 1 hour for both with the right tools.

 

Two big crescent wrenches, needle nose pliers and BFH. 30 minutes for both sides(that includes 2 beer breaks per side).

 

Just what kind of problems did you have that it took that long Pray tell??

Then maybe you truck came from the great Brine Belt !!

 

Tie rod ends usually give up after 3-4 whacks with a 5 lb mallet. I had one that would_not_let_go. 5 lb hammer, 20 lb sledge, MAPP heat, bottles of PB blaster, it did not matter. even dedicated rod end pullers and hydraulic 12 tn gear pullers would not budge it. Finally pulled the tie rod end out of the rack and use a cut-off saw to slice the arm off on the lower ball joint. At that point of frustration, a new lower ball joint was cheaper than my sanity.

 

to each his own but that's why that tool I linked makes it a 5 minute job with no hammer needed at all.

it simply presses the shaft of the tie rod out of the hole in a clamping manner so its done safely and with little to no effort.

yes the hammer works "most of the time" but you depend on it to break itself free instead of applying direct force to make it come out.

I used pickle forks and hammers for years but when I finally bought this tool I had no idea how easy it was to remove tie rods and ball joints with the turn of a wrench instead of brute force

 

5 hours on the drivers side. 2 on the passenger side. Heat, 3 lb. hammer, 4 different kinds of pullers. The BFH and heat finally worked. No rust issues but 390,000 miles on 'em may have had something to do with the amount of force and heat I had to use.

 

with that many miles on it i would have just unbolted the lower ball joints and replaced them too instead of fighting it that long.

to be honest i cant believe the ball joints didnt also need replacing but im sure you checked them

 

Those are a great tool for popping out tie rods.

I have the otc tool for the older ball joints and A C type press for the newer style the work great.

 

Would this tool also work? I got it to do the upper control arm job but I ended up not needing it. Now I wanna do the tie rods and I wanna have the right tool

 

I'm not sure it would but worth a try I suppose. The thickness of the to arms may be an issue.

This is the puller I used.

 

Is the tool needed just to get the outer tie rod out of the knuckle/spindle?

I think I am getting a complete rack from Rack Doctor so that's all I would need.

 

did them on my 4runner this weekend..

that tie rod end puller sure makes things easier..keeps your sanitie in check

 

The outer tie rod connects to the ball joint, not directly to the spindle. Check this out.