Luisv
06-23-2014, 12:53 PM
I recently replaced the tires on the car and took it over to the alignment shop to get everything as it should be in terms of alignment. When there, the tech found that the inner tie rod links seemed to be bad. I brought the car back and I checked it myself and found that the out links were OK but there was definately some play in the inner joints.
When I went to go find the links, I was told that the inner tie rod ends are not replaceable at the parts dept of my Dodge dealer. This seemed odd, but when I checked the manual I find that the tie rods and rack are one part as far as dodge was concerned. This means that the bad inner ends would need a rack replacement! Wow! I quickly started to search up the Viper forums and found that there was a source for the parts.
I found the tie rods (inner joints are fixed onto the rods so you have to replace as a whole) at a great price so I went ahead and ordered a pair. Now that I have found they are not easy to find, I went ahead and ordered a second pair to have the spare. Since I was going to be in there I went ahead and replaced the outer tie rods as well. No reason to not do it given you have to dissassemble the rods to change them.
Bottom line, the tie rods I ordered were exactly the same as the stock units. Great news for everybody.... it's orders of magnitude cheaper to replace the tie rods than it is to replace the rack. Not to mention the repair is FAR easier.
Total spent for the tie rods and tie rod ends, less than $135, delivered to my door. By comparison, a rebuilt rack is about $300 and a new rack north of $700...
The swap was relatively easy so here's the quick write up.
The basic process is simple:
Pull off the tie rods with the ends as one piece.
Measure the tie rod coming off the car as precisely as you can.
Disassemble the tie rod coming off the car to get the boot off the tie rod.
Assemble the new tie rods with the new rods ends and boot matching the length of the rod coming out of the car.
Replace the tie rod in the car.
Grease the new tie rod end.
To make life simple and to make sure you get everything correct, work on one side of the car at once. Once you have completed one side, do the other. This avoids mixining up the measurements.
I will show you one side... the other is exactly the same, simply repeat the process. Be sure to measure the rod lengths! On my car there was only a 1/32" difference between left and right. Not much... but it is a difference.
The details...
This is the shot of the tie rod in the car. To work on the driver's side (in these photos) you should turn the wheel to the left to make it easy to get to everything. The passenger side, simply turn the wheel all the way to the right. Yes... I noticed the sway bar link boot burst... ;-).... already ordered. :-)
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0790_zpsa3ade5e3.jpg
This is a shot of the dust boot. Of note here I'd like to mention some things to keep an eye on when removing this. Specifically there are three clamps that need to be removed to get the boot off. Once is the obvious which is the larger clamp around the steering rack itself. The second is outer clamp on the outter half of the tie rod. The last is the smaller green clamp around a small line that attaches to the boot. The small line is an air pressure equalizer. It allows the bellows to expand and contract relieving the pressure by allowing the air to move from the driver to the passenger boot via the small line.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0792_zps63a5c83e.jpg
Here is a tighter shot looking at the green clamp for the equalizer line. It's the green clamp right in front of the pliers.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0814_zpsbce97e85.jpg
Here is the boot as it comes off. None of these are particularly hard to get off. In my case, the boot and clamps all came off very easily. The dust boot itself came off real easy.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0811_zpsbcea5254.jpg
Once the boot is off the rack you can pull it out of the way exposing the "nut" that allows you to remove the tie rod form the rack. The nut is 1 and 1/4 inches (approx) so I used and adjustable wrench to get it off.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0793_zps2298b1c7.jpg
At this point, I would not try to break loose the tie rod. Wait until you release the out rod from the front knuckle. To do that, it's quite simple. All you need to do is remove the cotter pin and nut.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0794_zps84007824.jpg
Once you have that nut off, you simply get a tie rod end puller and you can remove the tie rod end link from the knuckle. You can get this on a loaner from just about any auto parts store.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0796_zps267c6ad5.jpg
In my case the tie rod ends popped out real easily from the front knuckle. No fighting, heating or beating needed at all.
- - - Updated - - -
Now that the outer tie rod end is off the knuckle you should go ahead and break the inner tie rod loose from the rack. Here there is no "flat" on the steering rack to hold the rack shaft as you loosen the tie rod. As a result you need to loosen the tie rod by just turning the nut without holding onto the rack rod itself. This is not a problem, at least in my case. All you have to do is apply even pressure to break the nut loose. I was able to remove the arm applying the pressure with just the adjustable wrench. Once you get a turn or two out, it will thread right off. It was not difficult at all and the rack was not affected in any way.
At this point you should have the tie rod out of the car all togther. Once out of the car, you will now need to measure it as precisely as you can. While you will never get it to be exactly identical, make sure you get it to withing a 1/16" or better. The way I did it was like this. I lay the rod on the ground against a wall. I then lay a tape measure against the same wall out with the rod. I measure from the flat of the wall to the grease fitting on the tie rod. The reason I pick the fitting is because that is fixed on the rod and centered over the end bolt. If you measure on the bolt the length can change if the bolt is at some deflection. Remmember the bolt is on a ball joint.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0808_zps8901f66a.jpg
Once I took the measurement, I measure again. I then wrote down the value. IN MY CASE... the measurement was 13-9/16" from the flat of the inner tie rod nut to the center of the grease fitting.
Once you are dead certain you have the measurement accurate, take the rod appart. Release the locking nut on the tie rod end. Thread off the tie rod end. Remove the locking nut, small boot clamp (you will reuse this) and the boot itself.
Here are just a pair of shots to show you the new parts compaired to those coming off the car.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0801_zps0ad6e294.jpg
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0803_zpsf7cc40bb.jpg
The tie rod I took off the car definately had a bad inner link. When removed the nut on the ball joint end flopped around by just shaking the rod a bit. If you grabbed the inner link you could feel the play on the ball in the joint. By comparison, the new rod's inner link was tight. To move it you needed to grab it and apply some force to move it. Huge difference. The outer links on the car were fine but I replaced regardless.
Here are the new parts assembled. The tie rod ends (outer) were Raybestos replacements. They came with a new lock nut, new grease boot, new grease fitting, outer knuckle bolt and cotter pin.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0805_zps474a29c4.jpg
You assemble the tie rod as it was when it came out of the car. First the dust boot, then the boot clamp, the locking nut and then the outer link. Thread the outer link to the point that it matches the length of the one you took off the car. Once it is there you tighten the locking nut against the tie rod end. Do this with a pair of wrenches. Once tight double check that the measurement is the same. Once you are satisfied it is good, install the new rod on the car.
To do that you reverse the process. Essentially, thread the inner link onto the steering rack. Tighten it with the adjustable wrench, Do not go nuts here! Don't tighten this to the point you see the rack deflecting 3". Just get it tight with the wrench and try to apply about the same force as you did to remove it. Finess here... not 500 lbs of torque!
Once the tie rod is on attach the outer link to the knuckle. From there you will reattach the boot. Place both clamps in place (main clamp on the rack & the small vent tube clamp) and then fit the boot back over the rack and vent line. Replace the clamps.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0810_zpsd1c0dafa.jpg
Once you have the inner part of the boot on, set the outer part of the boot in place in the small groove on the tie rod shaft and secure the clamp.
Once it is all done... you should see this....
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0815_zps74186830.jpg
Once you do the other side.... Grease up the tie rod ends through the fitting and your next trip is back to the alignment shop.
When I went to go find the links, I was told that the inner tie rod ends are not replaceable at the parts dept of my Dodge dealer. This seemed odd, but when I checked the manual I find that the tie rods and rack are one part as far as dodge was concerned. This means that the bad inner ends would need a rack replacement! Wow! I quickly started to search up the Viper forums and found that there was a source for the parts.
I found the tie rods (inner joints are fixed onto the rods so you have to replace as a whole) at a great price so I went ahead and ordered a pair. Now that I have found they are not easy to find, I went ahead and ordered a second pair to have the spare. Since I was going to be in there I went ahead and replaced the outer tie rods as well. No reason to not do it given you have to dissassemble the rods to change them.
Bottom line, the tie rods I ordered were exactly the same as the stock units. Great news for everybody.... it's orders of magnitude cheaper to replace the tie rods than it is to replace the rack. Not to mention the repair is FAR easier.
Total spent for the tie rods and tie rod ends, less than $135, delivered to my door. By comparison, a rebuilt rack is about $300 and a new rack north of $700...
The swap was relatively easy so here's the quick write up.
The basic process is simple:
Pull off the tie rods with the ends as one piece.
Measure the tie rod coming off the car as precisely as you can.
Disassemble the tie rod coming off the car to get the boot off the tie rod.
Assemble the new tie rods with the new rods ends and boot matching the length of the rod coming out of the car.
Replace the tie rod in the car.
Grease the new tie rod end.
To make life simple and to make sure you get everything correct, work on one side of the car at once. Once you have completed one side, do the other. This avoids mixining up the measurements.
I will show you one side... the other is exactly the same, simply repeat the process. Be sure to measure the rod lengths! On my car there was only a 1/32" difference between left and right. Not much... but it is a difference.
The details...
This is the shot of the tie rod in the car. To work on the driver's side (in these photos) you should turn the wheel to the left to make it easy to get to everything. The passenger side, simply turn the wheel all the way to the right. Yes... I noticed the sway bar link boot burst... ;-).... already ordered. :-)
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0790_zpsa3ade5e3.jpg
This is a shot of the dust boot. Of note here I'd like to mention some things to keep an eye on when removing this. Specifically there are three clamps that need to be removed to get the boot off. Once is the obvious which is the larger clamp around the steering rack itself. The second is outer clamp on the outter half of the tie rod. The last is the smaller green clamp around a small line that attaches to the boot. The small line is an air pressure equalizer. It allows the bellows to expand and contract relieving the pressure by allowing the air to move from the driver to the passenger boot via the small line.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0792_zps63a5c83e.jpg
Here is a tighter shot looking at the green clamp for the equalizer line. It's the green clamp right in front of the pliers.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0814_zpsbce97e85.jpg
Here is the boot as it comes off. None of these are particularly hard to get off. In my case, the boot and clamps all came off very easily. The dust boot itself came off real easy.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0811_zpsbcea5254.jpg
Once the boot is off the rack you can pull it out of the way exposing the "nut" that allows you to remove the tie rod form the rack. The nut is 1 and 1/4 inches (approx) so I used and adjustable wrench to get it off.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0793_zps2298b1c7.jpg
At this point, I would not try to break loose the tie rod. Wait until you release the out rod from the front knuckle. To do that, it's quite simple. All you need to do is remove the cotter pin and nut.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0794_zps84007824.jpg
Once you have that nut off, you simply get a tie rod end puller and you can remove the tie rod end link from the knuckle. You can get this on a loaner from just about any auto parts store.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0796_zps267c6ad5.jpg
In my case the tie rod ends popped out real easily from the front knuckle. No fighting, heating or beating needed at all.
- - - Updated - - -
Now that the outer tie rod end is off the knuckle you should go ahead and break the inner tie rod loose from the rack. Here there is no "flat" on the steering rack to hold the rack shaft as you loosen the tie rod. As a result you need to loosen the tie rod by just turning the nut without holding onto the rack rod itself. This is not a problem, at least in my case. All you have to do is apply even pressure to break the nut loose. I was able to remove the arm applying the pressure with just the adjustable wrench. Once you get a turn or two out, it will thread right off. It was not difficult at all and the rack was not affected in any way.
At this point you should have the tie rod out of the car all togther. Once out of the car, you will now need to measure it as precisely as you can. While you will never get it to be exactly identical, make sure you get it to withing a 1/16" or better. The way I did it was like this. I lay the rod on the ground against a wall. I then lay a tape measure against the same wall out with the rod. I measure from the flat of the wall to the grease fitting on the tie rod. The reason I pick the fitting is because that is fixed on the rod and centered over the end bolt. If you measure on the bolt the length can change if the bolt is at some deflection. Remmember the bolt is on a ball joint.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0808_zps8901f66a.jpg
Once I took the measurement, I measure again. I then wrote down the value. IN MY CASE... the measurement was 13-9/16" from the flat of the inner tie rod nut to the center of the grease fitting.
Once you are dead certain you have the measurement accurate, take the rod appart. Release the locking nut on the tie rod end. Thread off the tie rod end. Remove the locking nut, small boot clamp (you will reuse this) and the boot itself.
Here are just a pair of shots to show you the new parts compaired to those coming off the car.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0801_zps0ad6e294.jpg
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0803_zpsf7cc40bb.jpg
The tie rod I took off the car definately had a bad inner link. When removed the nut on the ball joint end flopped around by just shaking the rod a bit. If you grabbed the inner link you could feel the play on the ball in the joint. By comparison, the new rod's inner link was tight. To move it you needed to grab it and apply some force to move it. Huge difference. The outer links on the car were fine but I replaced regardless.
Here are the new parts assembled. The tie rod ends (outer) were Raybestos replacements. They came with a new lock nut, new grease boot, new grease fitting, outer knuckle bolt and cotter pin.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0805_zps474a29c4.jpg
You assemble the tie rod as it was when it came out of the car. First the dust boot, then the boot clamp, the locking nut and then the outer link. Thread the outer link to the point that it matches the length of the one you took off the car. Once it is there you tighten the locking nut against the tie rod end. Do this with a pair of wrenches. Once tight double check that the measurement is the same. Once you are satisfied it is good, install the new rod on the car.
To do that you reverse the process. Essentially, thread the inner link onto the steering rack. Tighten it with the adjustable wrench, Do not go nuts here! Don't tighten this to the point you see the rack deflecting 3". Just get it tight with the wrench and try to apply about the same force as you did to remove it. Finess here... not 500 lbs of torque!
Once the tie rod is on attach the outer link to the knuckle. From there you will reattach the boot. Place both clamps in place (main clamp on the rack & the small vent tube clamp) and then fit the boot back over the rack and vent line. Replace the clamps.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0810_zpsd1c0dafa.jpg
Once you have the inner part of the boot on, set the outer part of the boot in place in the small groove on the tie rod shaft and secure the clamp.
Once it is all done... you should see this....
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/s363/luisv001/Viper/Steering%20Tie%20Rods/PBL_140621DSCN0815_zps74186830.jpg
Once you do the other side.... Grease up the tie rod ends through the fitting and your next trip is back to the alignment shop.