Inner vs Outter Tie Rod

[dephrag]

Ok, I had my car into a shop to check out my serious steering probs which requrie a ball joint and tie rod end. I will oviously do both sides, but I was told I needed a tie rod end...not speicifically an inner or outter. Should I also replace BOTH, or is that just more work/money that might not be ness. Would they both contribute to wheel shimmy or is it typically one or the other...? This is costing me enough already, I don't wanna replace stuff I don't need too!

Thanks!
James

[Dousan_PG]

replace both
its easy to do and takse the same amount of time
cost is very lowtoo
any autoparts store carries them

get s14 ones, fits same and are beefier
www.pdm-racing.com has some as well (moog) which i think are top quality and worth the money

[Dream240]

(moog) which i think are top quality and worth the money

Moog USED to be good. They've gone down in quality the past couple years. Which is why many suppliers stopped carrying them. Beck Arnley is pretty good. Go whichever way you want, but yeah replace both inner and outer while you're in there. Just a tip to save you money, you can adjust your toe yourself or find a friend to help you, that way you won't need to get a whole new alignment. Cause really the only thing your messing with in there is toe. I had a mech friend do it manually and he had it dead on .10 each side!! So it's possible to find someone to do it old school.

[Projekt_Sil80]

and if you got the money maybe some Tein's and others will be a good upgrade

[Frappe]

Hey, related question, not meaning to hijack or anything.

Is there a trick to getting the inner tie-rod off? I tried, pried back the lock-nut to the point that it's basically useless (replacing anyway with TEIN, so no big deal) and still couldn't get the rod to unscrew.
Is it ok to use PB-Blaster or anything that close to the steering-rack internals?
Or any other tricks, specialty tools?

I'm also a little worried about driving around with one un-locknutted inner rod.

[Wei240]

i don't think there's an easy way around a really stuck inner rod, it's just leverage, maybe get a pipe on the wrench end, maybe use your jack to help push?
also don't think pb blaster is going to ruin anything externally.

dousan had a write up on this, hopefully you can find that thread, but i think some of the pics may have red x's...

[Dream240]

There's a special "inner tie rod tool" that will take those off in a jiffy. Unfortunately they're like 80 bucks. I got mine off with an open ended wrench and some muscle. Just find a wrench that will fit snug around the inner tie rod section. I think it's a 18 or something liek that. Then just get down there and use that leverage man!!
Have fun cause it's still a bitch, oh yeah and put some anti-seize on ALL exposed threads down there.it'll keep them from locking up on you in the future.