how to i know if i have bad inner tie rods?

Question

How do i check the inner tie rods?? i know how to do the outer. If the outer are loose the wheel will move when pushing it 9 and 3, but if the inner are loose does that mean there is excessive play in the steering?

i dont have rack and pinion its Recirculating-ball Steering

Answer 1

leave the vehicle on the ground and have somebody else turn the wheel a few degrees back and forth while you are under the vehicle with your hand on the tie rod end. DO NOT LIFT THE VEHICLE while doing this.

Answer 2

The tie rod will wobble, causing your steering to wobble (With this wobble, turning the steering wheel a little bit won't do anything. Turning it a lot will finally turn the car). The tie rod will also cause excessive tire wear. You are likely not going to wear the tie rod to the point of utter failure, so it is likely not an immediate safety issue. You could probably run your car for tens of thousands of miles. By the way, tie rods are relatively easy to repair. You don't have to jack up the car to change them (they don't support the weight of the car, the ball joints do that). You could easily do the labor of changing the tie rods. The only problem is that the steering parts could cost a lot of money if you replace a lot of them. Likely you just need that one part. After you do the labor of putting in a new tie rod, and, by eye, somewhat align the tires, take the car to an alignment shop (or buy a tire alignment tool).

Answer 3

Yes. You need to get the wheels off of the ground, turn the key back to lock the steering wheel. Put pressure on 3 and 9, back and forth. Look for play in the steering rack. More than 1 inch is too much. It is normal to have a little slack in it. But you don't want it too sloppy. But the slack could also be coming from the rack itsself. If you feel that something is really wrong and you've got way too much slack, I would suggest getting another rack from a junkyard. Good luck.

Answer 4

I have never heard of inner tie rods. There are inner tie rod ends which are attached to the outer tie rod ends by an adjusting sleeve. The inner tie rod ends are attached to a center link, also known as a drag link. If the outer rod ends are worn it is highly probable the inner ones are also. I don't know what this 9 and 3 thing is but worn tie rod ends will cause your vehicle to wander when driving.

Answer 5

you have to get under there and shake them with your hands, tie rods are cheap so if your questioning it replace them its very easy just make sure you mark the old ones so you will be close to normal when you put on the new ones