[duvaltom]

So guys She Started, timed it today!
She purrs(:
anywayy took it down the road and it handled terrribly, pulled to left hard,
so i pulled in garage and the driver side inner tie rod is bent in a almost upside down V! i diddnt notice the tire alllighment in at such an angle,
so i want to replace it, and found out i need an inner tie rod socket tool,
where can i get one?
has anyone ever done this bfor?
if soo pics would help!

[nolife]

Smack off the rivet head (or remove set screw) and use a cheap large adjustable wrench if you don't have the correct size. I used a large pipe wrench I had laying around. They are not torqued down hard so it should come off easy once you break it free.
To do it safely. Turn the wheel the whole way to the other side you are removing and place an open wrench on the shaft of the steering gear on the opposite side of the rack from the inner you are working on (steering gear is notched and you will understand when you see it). Apply force on that wrench in the opposite direction while you are removing the opposite side inner nut but be mindful not to damage the gear with the open end wrench either. That minimizes "twisting" of the steering gear inside the rack which could damage it and the seals. Don't forget to put the wheel back to the center position before attaching the rods to the outers. My Haynes manual is MIA so I can't give you the torque specs for those inner nuts.

You really should replace both inners and outers and the boots while you are there. If you don't have a puller for the outers, buy one for $10-15 or rent one from the shop you get the parts from. You can try to count threads the outers are on and put the new ones on the same amount but I've found all replacement rods and outers vary a little in length so that usually doesn't work. Just eyeball the alignment and drive directly to a shop to get it adjusted right. I personally suggest Moog parts.

What happened to bend the tie rod? What about the ball joints and arms?

[jessemachone]

look into replacing the whole rack. I just replaced mine not to long ago. I got it from autozone with a life time warranty. (I usually don't get drive train parts from them but the price was right) If your rack is leaking at all I would definately replace it. I think I paid close to 69.00 for mine. inner tie rods are gonna run you at least 40.

the toughest part of the job is finding out what rack you have. take a bunch of pics of yours so when you get to the store, you can tell if you are buying the right one.

[nolife]

+1. The reman rack already comes with new inners attached, new boots already installed, and new rack bushings. I thought about going that route when I was in the middle of replacing all my stuff I bought individually.