Steering arms and rod ends. Tips and tricks?

[Disco-tastic]

Hi everyone.

Ive just been informed that my left hand tie rod has some play, and the rod end has some play. Its still less than 4mm at the rack and 5mm at the wheel (which are apparently the RMS legal limits).

I can get the rods, rod ends and new boots and clips locally for $165 a side. I'm thinking about doing it myself, and am wondering if:

a) anyone done them before? Any tips and tricks?

b) should i do both sides? I need to get a wheel alignment so am leaning towards doing both, but the other side apparently doesn't have any play. My guess is that the edge of the road is typically in worse condition than the centre, so the left wheel cops it a bit more. (I also hit a massive pot hole at speed pulling off the road a while back.)

Any experiences or tips are appreciated to help me make up my mind :)

Cheers

Dan

[loanrangie]

I would do both sides then you know they are all good.

[shanegtr]

All going well I'll be doing mine on my days off work so I can throw some details up once Im done if I remember

[Disco-tastic]

All going well I'll be doing mine on my days off work so I can throw some details up once Im done if I rememberThat'd be awesome Shane. Ive found a couple of vids but they are mainly about the control arms and don't really detail the tie rods. Though from what they showed they look pretty easy. Havent checked the manual yet, as its a bunch of separate pdfs and i find it annoying to use.

[PerthDisco]

There is a how-to on Disco3.co.uk also from memory. The maintenance / wiki section is a wealth of data.

[Bigbjorn]

Easy job. Just need some basic mechanical knowledge and experience. Use an engineer's hammer to shock the rod ends out of the tapers or a joint splitter if you can acquire one. you don't need to be skilled fitter to do this. Even motor parts replacers can do this.

[County4.4]

15

[shanegtr]

Just finally got around to doing my steering arms on my days off. Reasonably easy job. I loosened the locknut from the outer tie rod end first. The the outer tie rod nut to the knuckle is very easy to knock off its taper with a decent size hammer. The inner rod end can be undone easily with stilsons. Once off the car I then removed the tie rod end and counted the rotations to put the new one back in roughly the same position (you should do a wheel aligment after anyway so near enough is fine for this stage). I was done in under 2hrs even with me spending some time showing my 10yo son how to do the RHS

[Disco-tastic]

Just finally got around to doing my steering arms on my days off. Reasonably easy job. I loosened the locknut from the outer tie rod end first. The the outer tie rod nut to the knuckle is very easy to knock off its taper with a decent size hammer. The inner rod end can be undone easily with stilsons. Once off the car I then removed the tie rod end and counted the rotations to put the new one back in roughly the same position (you should do a wheel aligment after anyway so near enough is fine for this stage). I was done in under 2hrs even with me spending some time showing my 10yo son how to do the RHSThanks Shane

I just had to replace the fuel pump so the tie rod ends are on the backburner. They're still legal and within spec so not urgent.

[Disco-tastic]

Reviving this. Anyone know how to confirm which size tie rods I need. One parts website says I need M20 RH and M16 LH, one says that its the same both sides.

All I can tell is that according to my VIN I have M12 tie rod ball joint nuts.

I don't want to have the car apart to realise I have the wrong bit [emoji14]

Cheers

Dan

[Globetrotter]

My D3 is an 08 model purchased late 2007. The tie rods are different for each side on mine. It is only the part that fits to the steering rack that varies all other bits are the same. Its a LR thing[bigwhistle]

[Disco-tastic]

My D3 is an 08 model purchased late 2007. The tie rods are different for each side on mine. It is only the part that fits to the steering rack that varies all other bits are the same. Its a LR thing[bigwhistle]Thanks. That gives me some confidence on what to buy.