Left Tie Rod loose?

[FyreDaug]

Well I figured that my lateral play in my wheel is caused by the tie rod being loose. When I wiggle the wheel back and forth, I can see the rod move.

I am missing the rubber boot over the tie rod "gear" or whatever you wanna call it, that goes to the rack.

What will fix this? It isnt just the end thats loose, the whole rod move, but doesnt affect the other side.

Situation: Jack up left front tire so its off the ground, Wiggle up and down, no movement, wiggle left and right it has some play. Ive got a wheel bearing going on that side too, but Id like to get this taken care of asap

[Moodybluesr]

It sounds like you have a bad inner tie-rod end. There is a joint on both sides of the tie-rod and the boot you mentioned covers the inner tie-rod end. I believe you can remove it with a 19mm crow's foot if you don't have an inner tie-rod end tool.

[FyreDaug]

Alright, so now Ive got a grinding sound coming from the left wheel, possibly the right aswell, I dunno, its so loud from the left side, with the loud exhaust I cant tell much. I talked to my old high school shop teacher and he said I could drop by tomorrow morning to put it up on a lift. The boot that covers the inner tie -rod like I mentioned was all torn and basically gone, but now I noticed some black grease around it. I pulled the remaining boot off, and I cant see any "damage" to it, but it grinds pretty bad, espcially turning. You can kind of hear it going streaight and turning right, but definately left it grinds bad. Kind of like it did when I had no pads left for my brakes and it was grinding em down.

Part source, lists a rack and pinion bellow (?) for 26 something, you figure thats the part? (Assuming I dont need to replace anything super expensive, the parts car has some decent steering parts)

[visionguru]

Both inner and outer tie-rod ends are not that expensive or hard to replace. Replace them and you go from there. Good luck.

[FyreDaug]

Sorry if im repeating myself but is the inner tie rod the one that the boot covers? And has the "teeth" on it? Needs grease, ,etc... just want to make sure there arent like 3 parts to the tie rod.

[Moodybluesr]

The inner tie-rod end and outer tie-rod end make up the entire tie-rod. The "teeth" you speak of are actually part of the rack; if your rack is loose you will have to replace the entire thing (which usually comes with new inner tie-rod ends). The inner tie-rod end consists of the rod itself and the ball joint which attatches to the rack underneathe the boot that you said was torn off. It unscrews from the rack (I believe with a 19mm crowfoot).

[FyreDaug]

So I have to replace the rack you figure? Arg, noo

[FyreDaug]

Well it would seem that the problem I had previously described wasn't completely true, and/or missing facts.

Well the tie rod isnt loose, it is still the wheel bearing. The tie rod has very little movement, which I would consider normal. The wheel bearing (as mentioned in many previous posts of mine) is bad, and I know it. It has lateral play, but it will still spin without grinding to a halt.

However, what I did find while it was up on the lift (shop teacher is still a dick btw) that the lower control arm on the driver side was loose. The bolt was nearly half out. Tightened that back up and checked the rest of the suspension components, nothing else but the radius rod on the passenger side had 1 loose bolt (of the 2, that connect to the lower control arm). Tightened that back up aswell. I didnt get a good enough look at the condition of the rack/inner tie rod end because I couldnt get the 3(?) bolts/screws holding the cover in place out, they were all siezed up, and I stripped the head of 2 of em, so I said screw it.

Funny thing is, last time it had some suspension work was when it was in the shop, so the only reason the bolts could get loose are if he didnt torque them down properly. A & D Automotive, stay away. So far its local....

I mean damn, if that lower control arm came off completely, who knows what kind of loss of control I could have had, and I drive on the freeway which is about 100kmh, and its icey.

Could have killed myself or someone else....

EDIT: Oh yeah, the noise stopped happening last night after about 8 hours of driving it off and on. Near the end of my shift it started acting normal with some slight wheel bearing noise that im used to. But I tightened everything up and the noise hasnt re-appeared. Lets hope its fixed.... selling the car tomorrow... (well ad in the paper anyways)

[StressSolutions]

Why didn't you replace the wheel bearings? Jeez, I can't imagint that they are expensive, and would be a hellof a lot cheaper than a tow or paying to remove the tire from someone's teeth or front porch depending on which way it went...Sure hope you disclose that it needs lots of repairs when you sell it.

[FyreDaug]

Not "lots" just the front left wheel bearing, the only reason I havent changed it is because I put new ball joint in the hub before the bearing started to go, and if I were to replace the whole hub from a junker for 50 bucks, it would be much cheaper than the 120 labor per side, plus the cost of the bearing.

Its not THAT bad, it makes noises sometimes, but it will be fixed if I decide to keep it. Otherwise, monday its being sold. (No ad today, too busy putting dash and stuff together and fixing speedo cable::: WHAT A BITCH THAT WAS TO TAKE OUT/REPLACE)