tie rod info

I went to the dealer for an oil change this morning and they said the drivers side outer tie rod should be replaced. How can I confirm that it does in fact need to be replaced, and how hard of a job is it to do in my driveway? The dealer wanted 230$, does that sound fair?

thanks,
bill

Shit, Bill, I wish I would have known that when you were here. I have 2 greasable Moog NIB outer tie rod ends. I just never used them, yet. I have a pickle fork too that you can borrow if you want.

The end is all you need, not the whole tie rod. It just unscrews once you get the joint separated.

$230 is pretty high for a price, considering the parts aren't expensive at all. I did a write-up in the "How To" section a while ago.....

http://www.chicagolandareamodernmopars.com/t5388-how-to-outer-tie-rods


If you wanna tackle it yourself then cool, but if not lemme know and I can take care of it for you man, BUT dont forget an alignment afterwards, same thing, if you need an alignment lemme know man, I do them all day long LoL

nice write up. I think I can handle the change on my own, but I'll take you up on an alignment. Are the Moog ends that Tom was talking about my best option?

bill

Yeah, they are good, and well known as well.

Used Moog on mine, not one complaint.

Moogs on mine too. Just replaced them this past summer.
Did it in my driveway. You can do it no problem.
I saved myself about $180 in labor. I did get an alignment for about $90.
Parts were $60-$70. (Moogs)

Bill, you may not even need an alignment if you just mark the threads first. Then just spin the new ones back on to your mark.

being it's an 80,000 mile daily driver that hasn't ever had an alignment I'm going to bring it to Adam and have him do one. I also want him to look it over and see if there is anything else besides the tie rod ends that look sketchy. I ordered the moog ends and they should be here mon. 80$ shipped for both.

bill