Anyone know a good place to see how to change the inner tie rod end? What tools I need. I have a 98 Tacoma TRD w/ 200000+ miles on it. I have done basic things to it, but never tie rod ends and every article I found was for the outer tie rod, but I need one for the inner tie rod end.

Thanks,

 

its very easy. Remove your tire, remove the rack end off the knuckle, take the outer rod end off but remember how far threaded on it is. Take the rack boot off. You may need to cut the inner boot clamp but you can use a strong zip tie in its place when you are done since there is no real stress on it. On the inner rod end, bend back the 2 small tabs. I'm not sure what size wrench that takes to get it off, but the best way to do it is to use a large pipe wrench to get it off. It won't mess it up at all and it does it effectively. Now just replace it and do everything in reverse order.

 

anyone care to shed some light on the complexity of this? ...maybe scale of 1-10, how long it should take w/out problems etc? in the next week im going to replace the inner ends and my steering rack bushings. should everything be ok w/ hand tools, and a weeks worth of pb blast-ing?

 

Complexity would be about a 3 /10. Pretty easy really. You will need a pickle fork and a hammer to break the outer tie rod end loose from the steering knuckle, but they are fairly cheap.

 

who sells the inners? Or did yall go to the stealership?

 

Get your inners here.... http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...47&catalogid=0 stealership, but discounted prices. I've bought a number of things from them.

For the guys who've replaced their inner tie rods, is there a chance of damaging the rack if you just reef on the nut to remove the tie rod? Do you need to brace the sliding element in the rack with another wrench so that the torque doesn't go directly into the rack? I pulled the boot back last night and there is a flat for a wrench on the rack, but I definitely don't have the right sized wrench for either nut.

 

i'd recommend using a pitman arm puller/tie rod end puller rather than the pickle fork (unless you plan on replacing the outer tie rod end). free loan from autozone, other auto parts stores...

as for the open ended wrench for the inner end, a large enough crows foot would work- i ended up borrowing a HUGE box end/open end wrench, i think it's 1 3/4", from a mechanic at work. ($40 wrench in specialty tool magazines).

i didn't use a brace... just got it tight (no way to know the torque exactly unless you use toyota's SST's) with some locktite. when you bend the washer's ends to create tabs, they will hold the inner end in place and prevent it from turning. there isn't anything (that i can see) that would induce the inner end to back out with these measures that i took. good luck!

 

anyone know if it's actually a 1 3/4" wrench? I just got one from the shop at work and it's huge! I pulled back the tie rod boots earlier this week and I don't think they were as big as this wrench. But maybe.....can anyone confirm?

 

what a nice guy i am! just went out and measured it for ya (on the old tie rod end, "TRE") and the wrench i ended up borrowing was a 1 5/8". it needed to be coerced onto the TRE, but it worked. if you could find one (maybe they don't even make them...), a 1 11/16" would be better- of course, the reason they're not a perfect fit is because they were most likely milled with a metric ruler.

sorry i led you down the wrong path! hopefully i can redeem myself at a later date!
cheers

 

Hey, that's alright, I appreciated the initial reply and follow up effort I didn't get a chance to replace the inner TRE's this weekend, but maybe sometime this week. Shouldn't take too long. While the 1 11/16's would probably be best, the 1 3/4" did fit, although slightly loose. I'll check with the maintainence guys and see if they have one of that size. Thanks for the help Nuthuts, you sure are a nice guy!

 

i have to be honest i was told by all the local shops that replacing the inner tie-rods could not be done and i ended up with an entire new rack and pinion so if you are able to replace them please post photos and info for those of us who like to do everything our selves. even installing the new rack my self it ended up costing almost $500

 

what occurred with my Runner was all the suspension components were corroded together. My rig lived part of its life on the Oregon coast.

I watched them torch the pieces off and ended up having to do inner and outer tie rods on the passenger side. Quite expensive at "Tires Plus" .

Not sure what they were trying to tell you that they can't be done. Part number is 101-4435 if I remember correctly. $38 tie rod inner on Amazon was $280 something at Tires Plus.

Work with members of this forum to find a mechanic nearby to you that you can trust....

 

I was also told by my local stealership that the inner tie rod could not be replaced without also replacing the steering rack. AND quoted me a price of $1700!!! I said that's funny, I just replaced the opposite side myself and had no trouble at all. The service guy didn't have much to say after that. Are these people for real?

p.s. They also tried to sell me a 4 wheel alignment. ha!ha!

 

I'm going to be replacing my ITRE's tonight. When I took off the boots last night, some oil dripped out. Do I need any additional lube when I install the new ITRE's and boots? The TREs came with a little grease lube from the factory, but is anything else needed? Thanks!