Tie rod ends and sway bars - update
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Team Owner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 28,496
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From: Cambridge Ontario Canada
Tie rod ends and sway bars - update
Hi Guys -
Working on the latest Project..many guys come on and ask questions just thought I wouod change speed a bit and give some info .. oh by the way the alternator went back in with my new reconditioned fan without much problem .really tight with the wires and air duct though .. but I digress.
This weekend I decided to do the sway bar and turbo tie rod end upgrade. Relitively cheap and easy upgrade ( i got the lemfoerder ) . Followed the 101 projects book and Bently and it was a piece of cake. Wayne suggest to take 4 hours, after 2, I was getting ready for the superbowl.
The sway bar was just remove the 2 brackets and pull like a banshee. This was a good thing to do at the same time as it is now out of the way. The best tip was to use the tie rod as a wrench and unscrew itself. Worked great. I whipped off the castle nuts with my impact gun ( didn't want those ball joints spinning ) . Then I used my impact hammer to knock out the tie rod end. Pretty well just follow the instructions after that. The one thing I noticed was the plate or " locknut " on the opld assemby ( the piece that the porsche wrench goes on to ) can also vary in position on the threaded shaft, so this will vary the tie rod legnth. mine were not bottomed out. So a reallignment is definitely in order. Other than that I used a thin film of silicone grease on the boot ends to help slip them into place. This worked great and allowed me to turn the rubber boot when putting that inner spring holder in place. Oh, while I had the tie rods out I removed and slipped in my sway bar bushings on the control arm. Again silicone grease worked great. Just collaped them with some grease , slid it in and it popped right into place.
The bear looks like putting the sway bar back in but I have an idea. I am going to use one of my straps that has a winch ( we use them for camping and tieing stuff to the caravan. ) just tie off at each end and winch it together. I only need a inch or so and it may save a ton of struggling. I
ll let you guys know how it goes..
oh by the way regarding the time, remember my car lives on jack stands and I have an air compressor with tools.
One thing I noticed and if anybody has hung in long enough to read this. I checked the shocks My rears are bilstein but my fronts are Boge. Is it possible someone at some point upgrades the suspension and put new inserts in the front? does that mean a hole would have been drilled in the housing for the pin of the bilstein inset? ( just thinking out loud.... )
ice
Working on the latest Project..many guys come on and ask questions just thought I wouod change speed a bit and give some info .. oh by the way the alternator went back in with my new reconditioned fan without much problem .really tight with the wires and air duct though .. but I digress.
This weekend I decided to do the sway bar and turbo tie rod end upgrade. Relitively cheap and easy upgrade ( i got the lemfoerder ) . Followed the 101 projects book and Bently and it was a piece of cake. Wayne suggest to take 4 hours, after 2, I was getting ready for the superbowl.
The sway bar was just remove the 2 brackets and pull like a banshee. This was a good thing to do at the same time as it is now out of the way. The best tip was to use the tie rod as a wrench and unscrew itself. Worked great. I whipped off the castle nuts with my impact gun ( didn't want those ball joints spinning ) . Then I used my impact hammer to knock out the tie rod end. Pretty well just follow the instructions after that. The one thing I noticed was the plate or " locknut " on the opld assemby ( the piece that the porsche wrench goes on to ) can also vary in position on the threaded shaft, so this will vary the tie rod legnth. mine were not bottomed out. So a reallignment is definitely in order. Other than that I used a thin film of silicone grease on the boot ends to help slip them into place. This worked great and allowed me to turn the rubber boot when putting that inner spring holder in place. Oh, while I had the tie rods out I removed and slipped in my sway bar bushings on the control arm. Again silicone grease worked great. Just collaped them with some grease , slid it in and it popped right into place.
The bear looks like putting the sway bar back in but I have an idea. I am going to use one of my straps that has a winch ( we use them for camping and tieing stuff to the caravan. ) just tie off at each end and winch it together. I only need a inch or so and it may save a ton of struggling. I
ll let you guys know how it goes..
oh by the way regarding the time, remember my car lives on jack stands and I have an air compressor with tools.
One thing I noticed and if anybody has hung in long enough to read this. I checked the shocks My rears are bilstein but my fronts are Boge. Is it possible someone at some point upgrades the suspension and put new inserts in the front? does that mean a hole would have been drilled in the housing for the pin of the bilstein inset? ( just thinking out loud.... )
ice
