front end work

[luminal67]

OK my car has 167,xxx miles on it now with the original inner/outer tie rods. I want to change them and get an alignment.

 

My question is, besides using the special tool for the inners, how difficult are they to pull out after this long?

 

Also, the front end has this kind of moaning/grunting/grinding noise when I'm turning in reverse and touch the brakes. not all the time, but its getting more frequent.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks for the help.

[GutlessSupreme]

Tie rods weren't that bad. It's bit of a pain in the ass to zip tie the boots back on afterwards.

 

That Lisle tool is awesome though for the inners. You need to remove the outers to use it and that could be a problem. On my GP, I didn't bother fucking with them, I got an angle grinder and just cut the ends off. I knew they weren't gonna budge otherwise. The inners have been sealed up (hopefully) their whole life so rust/dirt etc shouldn't be an issue, but they were originally crimped to the rack so it'll take a little effort to back them off. Good luck trying to crimp the new ones, I just used a shitload of loctite.

 

Both my GP and Cutlass do that exteremly loud/embarassing moaning noise in reverse when I tap the brakes. Seems to only come from the driver's side. I threw a different caliper on the Cutlass which seemed to stop it for a few months but now it's back again so I dunno. Maybe both of them went bad

[Crazy K]

I would NOT replace them unless they are bad. I've seen the OEM ones last and last and last. and then I've seen new ones that wore out in just months.

 

 

GP1138's car had a front end issue, with 186,000 miles I helped him inspect it, and only one outer tie rod was bad. The funniest thing is I had a spare used OEM tierod, with high mileage that was still good, so on the car it went! and it only took maybe ten minutes to do.

 

it sounds like brake noise. did you use disc brake quiet when you did your brakes last?

[luminal67]

no I never used the brake quiet stuff. I can't even remember the last time I did the front brakes.

 

Now if you determine that the tie rods are worn, how do you tell if it is the inner or outer?

 

[Crazy K]

 

test: get a helper... one of you jerks the steering wheel left and right about 2 inches with about a 1/2 second pause between jerks... the other looks, feels, and tries to isolate the bad component while under the car. You'll probably find something making a click or thunk.

 

[rockfangd]

your best bet is to get a small torch to help to take off the old ends

[toms92gpse]

no I never used the brake quiet stuff. I can't even remember the last time I did the front brakes.

 

Now if you determine that the tie rods are worn, how do you tell if it is the inner or outer?

 

9 times out of 10 it is the outer that is wore out. I got to do mine, they have 164k on them. I got some extra play in the wheel in the last 20k so i know they are worn.

[White93z34]

after 167,xxx i'd say it is safe to say most everything down there is probably due for replacement, i did my tie rods (inner and outer) at about 160k and mine were very shot, tons of play in everything. i had one very stubborn outer tie rod to come off, so i just cut it off the old inner tie rod. all and all the job wasn't so bad, but schedule an alignment immediately afterwards