Had some slop in inner tie rod passenger side ..I had replaced the inner tie rod on the driver side and I used a standard Rodney Dickman inner tie rod that look just like the one I replaced..I have a new inner tie rod and it looks nothing like the one I took off on the passenger side ,,The one i took off ,,you had to loosen a hex head screw,so you could turn the old inner with a 32mm wrench,,it is black with no neck down,, the inner tie rods threads are the size of a quarter(just a bit smaller)
My steering gear looks stock ,a match to photos/pictures in catalog and online..
...What have I got ??,, what part do I need??? I want to drive to Daytona the 26march IN the Fiero

[This message has been edited by uhlanstan (edited 03-21-2010).]

quote Originally posted by uhlanstan: The one i took off ,,you had to loosen a hex head screw,so you could turn the old inner with a 32mm wrench,,it is black with no neck down,, ...What have I got ??

What you describe sounds like an early (2003 or before, U.S. manufacture) Rodney Dickman '88 inner tie rod. I don't know whether the '84-'87 Dickman inner tie rods were made like that or not. Based on correspondence with Rodney, some of the early '88 tie rods had problems like you describe. I had to replace both of mine due to excessive (> 1/8 inch) play that developed in the inner ball joints over the course of about 18,000 miles. Rodney reports that he changed to a Taiwanese supplier in mid 2003 has had no further problems since.

The head is completely different ,,the stock normal inner tie rod looked at from the side resembles an exhaust pipe adapter larger down to smaller ,, the inner tie rod I took off the passenger side looks like a 6 sided nut similar to the 30mm nut that holds the rear axle(picture worth a thousand words)
The driver side is the normal Fiero inner tie rod ,,the threaded hole is much smaller ,,the wierd passenger inner tie rod has flat sides you can use to remove it,,before you can remove it ,,there is a hex screw that you must loosen ,, the hex socket presses against the steering units rack threaded end part
the stock unit is round barrel,, the wierd passenger unit is hexagon barrel..
any one know what this is,,a quarter (25cents) will fit into the threads at the end of the barrel..
2286 is stamped into the barrel
there are 2 holes drilled on one hex,one of these holes is threaded for the small hex screw that press,s against the threaded rack stud,,,, and directly opposite(180) there is one hole,,3holes total

[This message has been edited by uhlanstan (edited 03-21-2010).]

Rodney's "early" '88 inner tie rods had the Allen head set screw but only two flats on the body of the ball joint, not eight. His later '88 tie rods are more like OEM, and they have to be staked in place.

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 03-20-2010).]

I,m perplexed,any one got an Idea what part this is,,??where can I get one..
My steering rack seems like Fiero G.M. factory, and the driver side inner tie rod is the standard part..
yet my passenger inner tie rod is completely different ,,it does not have the look of a machine shop special..the threads are about 7/8,, much larger than the normal inner tie rod threads..

[This message has been edited by uhlanstan (edited 03-21-2010).]