mxl360

It's been 3 months since alignment, I was under the car today and notice the passenger side boot ripped (located after the steering rack [replaced 2 months ago] there's a rubber boot- is this the inner or outer tie rod boot?? )

Well this boot ripped...on the passenger side. So i looked at the driver side and its twisted bad..[indian burn] (like they aligned the rods, but never loosen the zip tie on the boot..... so they turned the rod along w/ the boot still tied to it)

I'm gonna take off the zip ties to twist it back to shape. But the passenger side.... would I need a new rod w/boot (is it inner or outer rod? )

YossarianLives!

Yea, sometimes the boot sticks to the inner, take a small screwdriver and slip it in between the boot and the rod, then shoot a little penetrating oil in there, it should straighten right out.

As for the ripped boot, If its attached to the inner tie rod at the little end, and the rack at the big end, thats an inner tie rod boot. I doubt an alignment ripped it, but its not out of the realm of possibility. especially if the tech didnt lube the boot and had to make a lot of adjustment. (turn the rod a few times.). I would get a new boot on there, wouldent want road debris inside there. You would need another alignment though, you have to take the outer tie rod off to replace the boot.

mxl360

i was told i need a special tool to take off the inner tie rod? so i can put in a new boot?

Bird333

If I understand what you are talking about you don't need any special tools. Also, you need to take the OUTER tie rod off to replace the boot.

mxl360

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bird333 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If I understand what you are talking about you don't need any special tools. Also, you need to take the OUTER tie rod off to replace the boot.</TD></TR></TABLE>

so i need to take the outer tie rod off to replace the "rack and pinion" boot?


Modified by mxl360 at 9:42 PM 8/22/2007