Hey guys, I'm swapping out my front inner tie rods with Rodney's and I couldn't get the outer tie rod off of the old one. It was rusted together. So I ran to Autozone and got two new outer tie rods. They are shorter, but they thread onto the inner tie rod just fine. They don't look like they have as much of a bend in them either. Is this just because they are cheap? I am worried that I'm not able to thread far enough into them for it to be safe. I drive somewhat aggressively on occasion and I autocross as well.

The numbers on the box are
DW-ES2500RL
MOOG-ES2500RL
OE Brand-S-ES2255
TRW-ES2255R

I've googled them, but I've come up with mixed results. Any help is appreciated! My car is a 1986 GT with a 2.8.

This is somewhat urgent because I was planning to finish up my car tonight so that I could get an alignment and new tires and drive it back to my school 2 hours away tomorrow. But I want to do this correctly so that I am not jeopardising mine, or anyone elses lives by my tie rod failing while I'm driving.

Thanks!
Paul

This is with the tie rod threaded down to roughly where the alignment should be. Shows how much thread would be inside the outer tie rod. Is that enough?

This shows how much shorter the tie rod is. And also how it doesn't have the same little bend. The new one has a different dust boot thing on it as well

Personally I think it is fine, it's just slightly different over the original which is normal with some aftermarket parts, but I don't think it is anything to be concerned about. However I would wait for someone more experienced than myself to chime in if you are really concerned about the safety of less threads.

quote Originally posted by DaytonTD: Personally I think it is fine, it's just slightly different over the original which is normal with some aftermarket parts, but I don't think it is anything to be concerned about. However I would wait for someone more experienced than myself to chime in if you are really concerned about the safety of less threads.

That's what my first thought was, but I want to be sure before I drive two hours on it at highway speed. The outer tie rod was around $25 which seems really cheap for a front tie rod. I'm afraid the parts guy didn't catch that it was a rear one. I don't want to rush it and end up causing more damage than before. A tie rod failure while driving is one of my biggest fears.

But maybe I'm just being paranoid and everything is fine...

Can you just Google the part number on the box and see what it tells you?

That doesn't leave much thread to hold the tie rod together. I wouldn't trust it, especially on a car that gets driven hard.

Personally, I would bite the bullet and order Rodney's tie rod ends.

The store opened up and I gave them a call. Turns out they gave me rear tie rods instead of front tie rods. That's pretty annoying, It could have turned out really bad if I tried to instal and drive on them.

Glad you got sorted.
when I am at work and about to start a job we have to go through a last minute risk assesment and 1 of the things that I always write down is: ANY DOUBTS - STOP AND RE ASSESS.

which is what you did - I understand it is a bit annoying delay wise - but better than being hospitalised.

jon