atb

Replaced a tie rod today. (Just the rod, not the end).
Before removing the one on the car I measured the distance from the lock nut to the end of the ball joint, and counted the threads.
When I pulled off the old one, I laid it next to the new one just in case, and sure enough, they are different lengths.
I haven't seen this mentioned before, so just a word of warning that not all tie rods are the same length.
I'll try to post a pic in the next day or so. Took pics with my phone, but my phone and computer haven't been communicating lately.
The new rod was 10.5mm longer than the one that came off.

Garth S

There was an early change in the racks, growing from 795 to 810mm - but that was corrected with a spacer in the bump stop on the early types: then, the S4 spindles had a different reach from the rack ends, leading to a change of the tie rod length in '86.5 - if I recall it correctly.

atb

Side by side comparison:



Close up on the ends:

RyanPerrella

What Garth said

gruffalo

I just replaced one myself. At first when comparing I got really frustrated with the different length in the old vs. new part. Then I realized that I just could re-use the spacer Garth mentioned, and we got a happy ending to that too.

atb

So apparently there are still long and short tie rods circulating in the parts inventory then? The one I pulled I had already replaced before a few years ago.

You guys understand my point here right? I've seen posts in the past where people have replaced the tie rods and counted the exposed threads on the tie rod ends in order to install the new tie rod in the same configuration. That's not going to work if the replacement is different than what comes off the car.

atb

Is this the spacer that Garth referenced (part 3a)?

heinrich

Adam if you need one I'm sure I have one.

heinrich

a rod not a spacer that is

atb

Thanks Heinrich, but it went in without a hitch.

I didn't have any spacers regardless of whether using long or short. The tie rod ends have a lot of threaded stud length. I had 12.5 threads exposed with the old, and I think 6.5 exposed with the new, so no problems.

jpitman2

All you need to do is get same overall length , irrespective of whether the rod or end is different in length.
jp 83 Euro S AT 50k

gruffalo

3a is the end stop for the steering, 3 is the spacer.

atb

I think you've got 'em switched gruffalo.

gruffalo

I sure did, sorry about that, I just checked pet myself. But you must admit that #3 LOOKS more like a spacer, and #3a LOOKS like a washer.

But the "stop" should be the one closest to the rack, right? I'm still not totally convinced, but we're talking irellevant details now...

Adam BTW, what's a fair price for those wheels? I know of a set for sale locally...


MM