tie rod replacement

[fenrisx]

Anyone changed their inner tie rod end? I took my truck to get an alignment today, and the mechanic said he couldn't do it because of my TRE. He showed me.. the TRE moves when he pulls on the tire. Just barely. He said it'd be fine to drive it, but he couldn't do the alignment with it like that.

I didn't have time to let them do it (in GA visiting family), but I'm going to have to look into it once I get back to MPLS. They quoted me $85 part/labor. They get their parts from AutoZone.. quoted $40, and $45 for install.

They were only going to charge me $40 for the alignment.. so I'm kinda bummed. Everywhere I find up north wants $80'ish.

[Scuba]

Yeah, its not hard.
Get a small 2 jaw puller from autozone.
Get an inner tre from Toyota if possible. I'm a fan of OEM parts. Think they're 114 from TRDparts4U.
Make sure to mark where the outter TRE is before messing with it.

Its not hard, check the Tacoma FSM...

[Seanz0rz]

i count the threads, that worked pretty well. or mark the thread with white paint (white out works), and match the old to the new. then go get an alignment!

[Crinale]

i just do garage alignments on my 4runner.. brace the steering wheel straight so it cant turn, then using a tape measure between the front wheels, set up the tie-rod so that the measurement across the front of the wheels is 1/8" narrower than the measurement of the rear of the wheels, tighten, and enjoy

[MTL_4runner]

Cut off the band holding on the tie rod boot and pull it back to verify it's the tie rod that is actually bad. I thought it was an inner tie rod too at first but after I opened up the boot, you could see it was actually the steering rack that was going south. It's worth the few extra minutes to check before you go buy any parts.

[fenrisx]

How will I be able to tell it is the inner TRE that's bad, or the rack?

If it's the steering rack I'll have to drive it that way for a while, and hope it doesn't get worse. I don't have the $ to replace it.

[MTL_4runner]

How will I be able to tell it is the inner TRE that's bad, or the rack?

If it's the steering rack I'll have to drive it that way for a while, and hope it doesn't get worse. I don't have the $ to replace it.


Jack up the tire closest to the "bad" tie rod. Then when you cut the clamp and pull the boot back it will give you a good view of what exactly is moving. After that have someone try and turn/move the tire side to side while you look at the inner tie rod and steering rack. If it's the tie rod, you'll see it move in and out of its ball socket (might also hear a click when it happens). If it's the steering rack, you'll see the end of the steering rack move up and down inside its housing.

If it turns out to be the rack, then wait until your safety inspection is up to replace it (that's what forced me to replace mine, otherwise I would have drove it longer in that condition). Also if you do need a rack, don't mess around like I did and waste money......just save yourself alot of hassle and do it right by buying a new OEM rack from the getgo. They were around $700 (part only) last I checked, but it's a wise investment if you're looking to keep your truck a while. There is a reman'd OEM rack available, but again you may not be saving much as Toyota doesn't do the rebuilding on them (longevity?) and the price was like $500 plus shipping charges for the core. The choice was easy for me and my truck drives like new after changing it out.

Hopefully yours is just an inner tie rod which will be cheap and easy to replace relative to a steering rack.

[fenrisx]

Well.. I'll keep my fingers crossed for it just being the TRE.

Thanks for the info MTL.