need to replace my tie rod, anybody know if $175 for labor and parts reasonable? how hard is it to replace the tie rod? im thinkin of doing the installation if its not hard ..

 

do it yourself. Thats way to much for labor and parts. go to like pepboys think they have lifetime warranty on them for like $30 and do it yourself. Just measure how far the original one is screwed on and put the new one on the same or your going to need an alignment

 

You should get an alignment regardless because even if it is slightly off, it will throw off your TOE angle and eat away your tires.

 

Pretty simple since you will be throwing the old tie rod away...

1- lossen lug nuts
2- raise car onto jackstands
3- remove wheels
4- remove cotter pins and castle nuts from tie rod balljoints
5- loosen jam nut on the inside of the tie rod end
6- place a pickle for between the balljoint boot and steering knuckle and strike with a hammer to pop the balljoint free
7- hold the inner rack end steady to keep it from turning, while threading the outer tie rod end off (count the exact number of turns it takes to remove it)
8- thread new tie rod end on with the exact same number of turns
9- tighten jam nut to hold tie rod end secure
10- tighten castle nut onto ball joint stud
11- tourqe both nuts to spec (I don't have number cause I'm at work, but e-mail me & I'll get them to you)
12- use "NEW" cotter pin to hold castle nut secure
13- replace wheels
14- drive car & make sure it doesn't explode
15- get front end allignment

COST:
new tie rod end with balljoint-----$28.16 @ http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com
new cotter pins----------------------$3.00 @ checker autoparts
pickle fork----------------------------$free @ checker (rental)
allignment--------------------------$40.00 @ firestone

CAUTION:
It may be very difficult to loosen the jam nut. I used two sets of locking plyers (one on the jam nut and one on the tie rod) and a lot of leverage, and the nut never came loose. Intead just the tie rod end broke loose making it unnessisary to count the rotations. I just spun the new one on till it hit the frozen jam nut.

FINALLY:
What where you getting from your mechanic for the quoted price?
Did it include an allignment?
Are you sure it's only the outer tie rod, and not the inner rack end (more difficult to do)?
If it is the inner rack end, there $40.28 each with a new lock washer, and you'll also need new boot calmps and mabey boots if yours aren't in good shape. Also, you may have to remove the steering gear box from the car to set the lock washer (I'm not sure).

Something that came up in another post
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stevel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
gamby, it's not difficult to do at all. The hardest part of the whole thing is getting that castlenut to break loose without an impact gun. Since it's a ball joint the nuts spins with the threaded bolt part. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I, personaly, have only had problems with the ball joint spinning when I'm reinstall the castle nut. The tapper of the stud should hold the stud tight when taking it off (it sounds like you've had a bad experience). When your installing the new one, the stud isn't seated all the way into the knuckle. This allows the ball joint to spin when the nut hits dirty or corroded threads. This shouldn't be a problem in this case since he will have a fresh new (clean) stud. It would have made a huge difference if they just machined an allen wrench hole or something into the end of the balljoint stud. Then you could apply counter tourqe.

But who the heck am I...


Modified by 94eg! at 11:09 AM 11/4/2004

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94eg! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Pretty simple since you will be throwing the old tie rod away...

1- lossen lug nuts
2- raise car onto jackstands
3- remove wheels
4- remove cotter pins and castle nuts from tie rod balljoints
5- loosen jam nut on the inside of the tie rod end
6- place a pickle for between the balljoint boot and steering knuckle and strike with a hammer to pop the balljoint free
7- hold the inner rack end steady to keep it from turning, while threading the outer tie rod end off (count the exact number of turns it takes to remove it)
8- thread new tie rod end on with the exact same number of turns
9- tighten jam nut to hold tie rod end secure
10- tighten castle nut onto ball joint stud
11- tourqe both nuts to spec (I don't have number cause I'm at work, but e-mail me & I'll get them to you)
12- use "NEW" cotter pin to hold castle nut secure
13- replace wheels
14- drive car & make sure it doesn't explode
15- get front end allignment

COST:
new tie rod end with balljoint-----$28.16 @ http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com
new cotter pins----------------------$3.00 @ checker autoparts
pickle fork----------------------------$free @ checker (rental)
allignment--------------------------$40.00 @ firestone

CAUTION:
It may be very difficult to loosen the jam nut. I used two sets of locking plyers (one on the jam nut and one on the tie rod) and a lot of leverage, and the nut never came loose. Intead just the tie rod end broke loose making it unnessisary to count the rotations. I just spun the new one on till it hit the frozen jam nut.

FINALLY:
What where you getting from your mechanic for the quoted price?
Did it include an allignment?
Are you sure it's only the outer tie rod, and not the inner rack end (more difficult to do)?
If it is the inner rack end, there $40.28 each with a new lock washer, and you'll also need new boot calmps and mabey boots if yours aren't in good shape. Also, you may have to remove the steering gear box from the car to set the lock washer (I'm not sure).</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

i have been doing some tuning in my 93 civic for some time now. this forum has been useful in a lot of ways. thanks for the support guys.

 

this part of the installation is indeed the hardest part, took me an hour and a half just be trying to pry those jam loose.