Tie rod ends

[Lorin]

Just been under the truck trying to track down my ongoing elusive knocking noise and discovered that one of the tie rod end rubbers is split and spilling it's grease. Do I have to replace the entire thing or can you just replace the rubber + repack with grease?

 

[Ronanjordan]

I am not a mechanic,
But I have replaced these on mine. Not an expensive part
Preventive maintenance if you like

 

[Gav Peter]

I would say its a replacable item Lorin...

 

[fridayman]

Very cheap from Milners to replace the whole thing. I have just done mine and the left one was a real barsteward to get off. I eventually took it to a mechanic who got it off in 30 seconds... using a bigger hammer! Just smack the hell out of the collar and it will drop out.

 

[Gav Peter]

I saw that on Wheeler Dealers last night - Ed China gave one on a TVR a reet clout!!!

His hint was when removing the old one, count the rotations so that when you fit the new one its back in the right place The only problem was his new ones were longer than the old ones so he had to do a wheel alignment any ways...

 

[fridayman]

His hint was when removing the old one, count the rotations so that when you fit the new one its back in the right place The only problem was his new ones were longer than the old ones so he had to do a wheel alignment any ways...

When I changed the right one myself I put some insulation tape around it to mark the position of the lock nut, then I used that to mark how far the lock nut had to be on the new one - worked perfectly. Then yesterday the mechanic tried "counting the turns" and also found out that the new one was a different length... No worries though - took it for wheel alignment (£30) and it steers better than ever now.