I am in the process of swapping my inner and outer tie rods on both sides of my 96 hatch. I noticed in the manual that you are supposed to stake the lock washer in four places after it is installed in the rack. This is impossible to do with the rack in the car, so what should I do? I can stake it in at least one location. Is it really necessary to do this step? I really don't want to pull the whole rack out for this step if I don't have to. Anyone else changed inner tie rods with the rack in the car? Please give me some advice. Thanks!

 

same here, would like to know the answer to. BUMP...

 

its an overall easier job to pull the rack out. ive done it both ways.

you should also be replacing the rack end bushing while the rack is out. cheap part, big on solving sloppy steering.

 

There was no way I was going to take out the whole rack. I was able to stake the lockwasher in two places on both sides and as an added security, I added some loctite to the threads of the inner tie rod. I got everything back together and got an alignment and my steering is MUCH improved now. Really the hardest part of the job was getting the new dust boots in place. That was a B*TCH!! I busted almost every knuckle I have. LOL! Next up is new dampers and UCA's.