I bought my son a ~125k mile 2003 Taurus SEL 2 years ago. When he went off to college with it, I fixed pretty much every issue and noise it had. It's back home and it's got a number of issues, including a decent amount of rattling on rough roads/pot holes. Most of the noise sounds like rear suspension.. particularly strange since I replaced both complete rear strut assemblies 2yrs ago to fix the minor noise from an elongated upper bushing hole. Statically cranking the rear body/suspension up and down very hard only gave a minor clicking sound... which traced to the left front and the inner tie rod. It moves around 1/16" or one thread. I bought the part but just curious- is it standard practice that zero slop is acceptable? There is zero slop on the right side.
2003 Taurus - Inner Tie Rod - any slop acceptable?
- Thread starter deanm11
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Thanks guys. Not sure about droop or ride height but I'm sure the slop in the joint would be causing drooping. I plan to change it out tomorrow morning. I have the tool kit from doing the inner rod on my '99 Regal a few years back.
True but the way the ball joint articulates it can tighten up when the car is in the air, and falsely diagnose as being less sloppy.
It's better to check these things on alignment turntables or even on pavement, just hard to get one's hand in there to feel the clunk.
It's better to check these things on alignment turntables or even on pavement, just hard to get one's hand in there to feel the clunk.
Originally Posted By: eljefino
True but the way the ball joint articulates it can tighten up when the car is in the air, and falsely diagnose as being less sloppy.
It's better to check these things on alignment turntables or even on pavement, just hard to get one's hand in there to feel the clunk.
That makes complete sense. The front suspension was unloaded when I observed the slop so it's probably worse than what I observed.
True but the way the ball joint articulates it can tighten up when the car is in the air, and falsely diagnose as being less sloppy.
It's better to check these things on alignment turntables or even on pavement, just hard to get one's hand in there to feel the clunk.
That makes complete sense. The front suspension was unloaded when I observed the slop so it's probably worse than what I observed.
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What I do with my Buick is take it to Chick's Frame & Wheel in Fresno and have them inspect the suspension for wear. They tell me which parts I need to get the car in alignment and then I take the car home and change the parts. So far they haven't charged me for an alignment check, but I always bring the car back to them for an alignment after replacing the parts. So far I've replaced both front lower control arms, both front tie rod ends, both front wheel bearing hub assemblies, and both front stabilizer bar links. Front end work on that little Buick is a piece of cake.
Before you just order a new tierod end, peel back the boots on the power steering rack. Sometimes the rack will leak, then the power steering fluid will destroy the grease in the tierod end. If that happens, you need a replacement steering rack.
Originally Posted By: eljefino
If you have a welder just weld the ball joint and throw a monkey wrench on the middle (outer?) part to twist the junker off.
That works for removal but won't work for installing the new one.
If you have a welder just weld the ball joint and throw a monkey wrench on the middle (outer?) part to twist the junker off.
That works for removal but won't work for installing the new one.
Got it changed out. No big issues. The old one was wiped. The unibody is a bit in the way of the body/sleeve of the tool.. It goes on but the tool body gets cocked to the side. It was animal tight- I had to put a pipe on my breaker bar. Turns out both inner tie rods had been done before- tie straps were in place on both sides.
Originally Posted By: deanm11
Got it changed out. No big issues. The old one was wiped. The unibody is a bit in the way of the body/sleeve of the tool.. It goes on but the tool body gets cocked to the side. It was animal tight- I had to put a pipe on my breaker bar. Turns out both inner tie rods had been done before- tie straps were in place on both sides.
Of course they were. My Taurus went through inner and out tie rod ends like changing underwear, that and pads and rotors, and of course the rotors were pricey because they include the hub. Thanks, Ford.
Got it changed out. No big issues. The old one was wiped. The unibody is a bit in the way of the body/sleeve of the tool.. It goes on but the tool body gets cocked to the side. It was animal tight- I had to put a pipe on my breaker bar. Turns out both inner tie rods had been done before- tie straps were in place on both sides.
Of course they were. My Taurus went through inner and out tie rod ends like changing underwear, that and pads and rotors, and of course the rotors were pricey because they include the hub. Thanks, Ford.
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