dripppps

I was told today that my drivers side (left?) tie rods are ceased. They are unsure if it is just the inner or outter at this point, but they didnt want to touch it or heat it until they had the parts.

I took the car back and I am thinking of now just doing the job myself. I am an experienced DIYer doing everything from suspension to exhaust and brakes.

I have the parts numbers. What Im curious about is if anyone has done this job? What size crows foot would I need for the tie rod removal tool to work on the inner tie rod? Any other tips I should know about?

MP4.2+6.0

I did it myself a few months ago. You need a 38mm crowfoot to loosen the inner tie rod, plus some socket wrench extensions. Was not hard at all, and I got the crowfoot from either Amazon or eBay inexpensively.

The hardest part was actually the inner boot clamp replacement. Much harder than the tie rod mechanicals that were all pretty easy and uneventful. Almost impossible to get in there and fasten a new one with the crush plier tool for it. I every bought a set that is positioned so you stick the "nose' of it straight in and then you squeeze (instead of the more typical "butt nose" type like you might use on CV boot clamps), and it was still mediocre. One hint is buy a few extra inner clamps in case you goof the first time and want to try again. The dealer ones are stainless, which was actually kind of dumb in this case because it just makes them harder to bend at the crush tightener. The factory ones were a thinner material, and I can pretty much see were mounted in place before the rack was bolted into the car. Anyway, it can be done, but it goes a bit slowly. I also pulled away the fender liner some to improve access; for that you should buy 6-8 of the push in pins used to hold in the liner for the two sides. I tend to break/sacrifice them trying to get them out, and they are cheap anyway.

Boot replacement is optional of course, but check yours out carefully for any signs of deterioration. There are thin o rings on the end of the rack where the boots fasten too; also optional and kind of German stereotype overkill for the sealing function.

Last, you can use it as a chance to adjust rack play. The adjustment nut is on the bottom of the rack on the driver's side. You can just barely see it, but I found by using a few open and box end wrenches in rotation--standard/SAE size at times for a bit of desired slop to work wrench end in w/ very limited ability to swing/turn wrench--I could get in there just enough to move it maybe a tenth or fifteenth of a turn at a time. It has hard to judge how much tension to use since I was doing it solo w/out a lift and did not have both wheels in the air at the same time; I backed it off some after a test drive when I found initially I had gone overboard and tightened too much. Once set right, steering felt very "brand new" since the rest of my suspension is all well kept up.

mishar

May I ask why are you doing this? Alignment?

If that is the case it must be outer one and you don't need any special tool. It would be good if you can measure exact position of the ball joint and put the new one in the same position, or you will need dealer to align your front wheels. Regular places won't deal with so called Toe Constant “S“ Adjusting.

MP4.2+6.0

my guess was in context "ceased" meant "seized" and so they couldn't do the toe adjustment; also the reference to heat. I ran into that with my C5 A6 4.2 where the shop--with experience, tools, heat and all--just did not think they could get it freed up without more risk of damage and didn't want to proceed w/out the replacement parts on hand.

For OP BTW, when I did my 2006 D3 ones at just about 100K miles, I found little wear when I had them fully out to inspect. Tightening the rack slightly was probably some of the other slight play I had. My C5 ones were a good amount more worn, particularly on the harder to inspect inners. The D3 ones are now beefier in general than the prior generation ones were.

mishar

I would take that tie rod out of the car and deal with it. If the ball joint is still good heat will ruin it. There is another trick for ceased treads. Put one side of the traded pipe on an anvil or large hammer and hit the other side with another hammer. Turn it a bit and hit again. Do it few times and treads will be loose.

dripppps

wow. great info guys! Yes, i only am talking about the inner tie rod in case I cannot free the outer one. Also, that is great info on tightening the steering to get it feeling new again.


Ill be ordering the inner rod, outer rod, seal, a few new inner boot clamps, the 38mm crows foot with tool (unless i can find its available to rent from Autozone).

THanks for all of the help guys. if you think of anything else, let me know.

Also, if you are comfortable PMing me your number so I can call you in the event i run into a question, that would be great.

I assume I should turn the steering wheel all the way to the right if I am doing the left front drivers side? that will better expose the area by pushing the rack out a bit...right?

Is the crows foot the 38.4MM one that Lisle makes?

dripppps

Also, this is a really rookie question but I have never had to jack up the entire front end on both sides.

WHat is the proper location and way to use jack stands on this cars frame? My jack stands are not wide enough to go where I think I need to go and the outter lips would likely piece the frame rail if I were to do that. Do you guys usually just put wood or somethiang in between? Just want to make sure I stabilize the car in the best way possible.

MP4.2+6.0

Tools:


The crowsfoot wrench I bought I doubt 38.4 vs. 38 matters; at most that would be a little slop in a very large opening, and the inner ones are not torqued that much anyway.

FWIW, the clamp pliers I used w/ mediocre results: Your other option is to go in there w/ regular or gas pipe pliers and squeeze the crushable area; then it bulges outward more at the squeeze point. You can't use buttnose nippers like on a CV joint (carefully to not cut through clamp) since there is almost no side clearance, and you can't really use standard wire cutters because they would squeeze at an angle w/ their pivot point.

You can position the rack as you want, and move it around during the work. I started w/ it pretty far outward toward the side I was working on because you want the rubber bellows boot out of the way as you go for the inner rod hex shaped wrench area. If you crank it all the way in, you are fighting w/ the boot for space. Later when you go to put the boot back, better to crank it somewhat inward so the natural pull on the boot is to fit over the rack clamping area.

MP4.2+6.0

If you caught in my first reply, I just jacked up one side at a time. Only if you intend to adjust the rack would you need both sides up at the same time as a quasi necessary. I found it was a pain in the butt the few times I did this on my C5 without a shop rack, so avoid it most of the time.

First you have to get the belly pan off if you don't have a lift, because invariably your jack stands will probably be somewhere under the subframe area. Thus you raise it to get pan off, then may lower and raise it again depending on whether you want to use your initial raise point to be a jackstand location. In general, I look for a point with obviously solid metal support, and where the jack stand top will not want to slide out to the side or otherwise off. Those tend to be the various subframe bolt up points. I also look at where the roll bar bolts to the subframe, but on the D3 the front bar is tubular so you don't want to put a lot of force on or next to it.

In these one end fully up scenarios where I already am using my jack stands, I then just slide the full wheels under the floor pan area as my basic secondary safety support. Every few years there is the story in the local paper of some poor guy crushed in his driveway w/ some kind of jack or stand slip. Not a pretty outcome.