Putting new rear tie rods on my 84. When I took the old ones off there was a oddly shaped "washer" that had the smaller hole in it for the pin that the inner tie rod has to keep it from spinning where it bolts to the cradle. It also has bent out flanges on it. Forgot if it goes between the tie rod and the cradle or the cradle and the nut and which way the bent flanges face. Is this even needed? Haven't been able to find it anywhere and don't see what the point of it is. New tie rods didn't come with one.
fierosound
MAY 15, 12:21 PM
It's there to keep the tie rod end nut from coming loose and falling off. You DO NOT want that happening while driving!!
Flatten the washer with a hammer. It goes under the nut. After tightening the nut, bend one flange over a flat of the nut to lock it.
Thanks for the info! Should one of the flanges have been bent in this way when originally manufactured? Neither of them were when i removed the tie rods. I figured the nuts being mechanical lock nuts would be enough but better safe than sorry.
fierofool
MAY 15, 12:58 PM
They should probably have been bent from the factory. I've heard of the same situation in the Fiero manual transmission, where the shifter fork bolt would come loose because the tab wasn't bent over to hold the bolt.
