front inner tie rod spins (Page 1/1)
gregr75 JUL 19, 08:22 PM
in getting my car ready for an alignment i checked the front tierods to see if they are still adjustable. well the jam nut has rust welded itself to the inner tierod on both sides of the car. i can turn the nut away from the outer end but thats only because the whole inner tierod spins with the nut.

should the inner tierod spin like this? seems like it shouldnnt

i also tried grabbing onto the inner tierod with vicegrips to stop it from spinning but theres no real flat on it so the vicegrips keep slipping when i turn the nut.
1985 Fiero GT JUL 19, 09:09 PM
Yes it should spin, the inner tie rod is a ball joint inside of the rack boot, therefore the shaft that you can see can spin freely when the outer tie rod is disconnected or loosened, makes alignment hard on many cars exposed to salty winters. Your alignment shop should be used to it, should have a big set of pliers for this situation, if not, a torch to heat it and break the rust loose, it should be included in the cost of alignment, although that depends on the shop of course and how far out of alignment it is.
gregr75 JUL 20, 03:47 PM
thanks, I was worried that I was unscrewing and slowly disconnecting the tie rod from the steering rack…

[This message has been edited by gregr75 (edited 07-20-2025).]

gregr75 JUL 31, 09:15 PM
so am replacing the driver side inner tierod now..

another question on this.... i cut off the boot to access the flats on the inner end and there is a white plastic "bushing" covering it. i may try to slide this off. what is the purpose of this "bushing" . it doesnt seem to interface with anything.

i have a service manual and it doesnt seem to talk about this bushing. the replacement tierod didnt come with one.

also... the service manual talks about a staking procedure. as far as i can see the old tierod or new one doesnt have any staking provisions. do people just screw and install the tierod to the steering rack with loctite?

Greg

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87 GT Stock 2.8L

pmbrunelle AUG 01, 08:56 AM
Yes, the tie-rod should spin.

I think that the plastic bushing exists to soften the impact between the toe-rod and the rack housing when you hit the travel limit. I am not sure. It fits with friction around the tie-rod end. You can push it off by hitting around it with a hammer + punch.

Staking here means that once the tie-rod end is screwed onto the rack, you smash the thin-walled section of metal onto the rack's flats so that the tie-rod end cannot unscrew easily. I am not sure how easily this can be performed with the steering rack assembly still in the car.

There is a lot of shoddy work out there, so I am sure that some folks will just Loctite this and call it a day.

[This message has been edited by pmbrunelle (edited 08-01-2025).]

gregr75 AUG 01, 03:06 PM
awesome! thank you! now that you said it, i looker closer at a youtube video where the owner peened that thin wall area you show in your pic.