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Has anybody ever done Inner Tie rods?

A

AliasJerk

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Oct 13, 2003
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I have determined that the reason for my suspension "groaning" issue is the inner tie rods, when the tie rod ends are disconnected from the hub and I move the tie rod up and down by hand it makes the exact same groaning noise that I hear inside of the car and feel in the steering wheels (go figure). The one part on the contour that I have never touched is the inner tie rods.

So I ordered new inner tie rods and tie rod ends. The ford service CD shows a notch on the base of the inner tie rod to pull off the tie rod, which requires a special service tool, which I have found that you can rent at autozone. Score.

However. After doing some research on NECO and on here I am finding that 50% of the people that do this job find that their inner tie rods end up not having that notch, making the specialty tool required for the job not work...

My question is, how many people have done inner tie rods, and did your factory tie rods have a notch at the base or not? How difficult was it to loosen the tie rod?

I plan to do this on Monday, and tomorrow morning before I go to work I am going to pull the boot on one side and see if I have a notch or not in the tie rod, I suppose worst comes to worst I can use a vice grip or a pair of channel locks to spin the bastard out of there. But I would like to hear someone else's experience with the job at hand.

Thanks in advance :)
 
we did mine back when i messed my car up..(curb accident). I can't really remember exactly how we went about in changing them, but i KNOW for a fact we didnt need a special tool. I'll ask dad tonight and see what he remembers and let you know.

Knowing you(from what i see on the boards), you SHOULD be able to do this kind of project....
 
Not sure how you'd do it without an inner tie rod tool. Never looked at the Contours but I know on my Mazdas there was no way to do it without welding something on to turn it the same way the free loaner tool would.
 
SVTRacer said:
Knowing you(from what i see on the boards), you SHOULD be able to do this kind of project....
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Gee thanks :rolleyes: I am going to complete it no matter what, I never have not been able to do something, as I have some extremely talented resources close by. However, I wanted to know what I was going into before I just jumped in. I was hoping for some photos, I also am learning that the tie rods that didnt have notches from the factory are more common on the cougar than on the contour.
 
I would call a parts store and see if they have the inner rod and the inner rod tool in stock so you could get an idea of what it will fit like.
 
Couple of thoughts. If you run rack to one side for more operating room, make sure you don't do any damage to the precision tube behind rod end. If you do and unit is power, when rack run back other way any damage will scrap your end seal and you may as well get new rack. Also, when I tighten one, I have a wrench or other holder on other end of rack so that main shaft is held in place while end tightened. If not, tightening can twist shaft into the pinion and again damage the rack. Best to change both inners at once so can tighten them against each other and avoid that. Or you tighten a bit less and loctite the assembly to prevent coming loose. Main thing is that if you just go in there and put the Hercules on it, the rack CAN be damaged. Be very glad that they don't pin the ends on any more, that used to suck drilling those pins out.
 
Dyoel182 said:
I would call a parts store and see if they have the inner rod and the inner rod tool in stock so you could get an idea of what it will fit like.
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From what I have heard, the replacement rods DO have the notches - it's the OEM ones that do not.
 
Just replaced an inner tie rod on my car. Ford inner tie rods DO NOT HAVE THE NOTCH. The replacement aftermarket one DID have the notch. The tool you speak of requires the notch as you already know. IIRC, we used a set of vice grips and a hammer to get the old one off, but I can't completely remember. I'll ask Greg if he remembers what we did.
 
Just verified with Greg. He used a set of vice grips with a breaker bar and got it off. Chewed up the tie rod really bad but it didn't matter because it was bent anyways. Only do this if the tie rod is shot would be my suggestion for future readers!
 
Harrry said:
i asked you about your tie rods...and you said they were fine :blackeye:

Be a follower.....get rid of the car....Fiesta comes out next year. :laugh:
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and the new focus comes out the year after that. That is probably going to be my first new car purchase.

ford-focus-2011-003.jpg
 
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