As part of my entire front suspension upgrade on my 2005 3.5L V6 RWD 300, the Inner and Outer Tie Rods are getting replaced. I'm replacing the stock/OEM ones with MOOG parts. Please note, that I am removing all parts on the front end, but this write up is exclusive to the Tie Rods so some pictures will have a different view than what you will experience as I already removed all components.
Besides the MOOG Tie Rod ends you will also need two new 2 3/4 inch hose clamps. These can be purchased at any auto parts retailer.
Let's get started:
First loosen your lug nuts, jack the car up and place on jack stands then remove the lug nuts and front wheels. Here is where you should be after that...
Next we need to loosen the nut on the outer ball joint where it attaches to the knuckle. You do not need to hold the ball joint in place during this step. So using a 21mm deep socket or open ended wrench, we need to loosen the nut. Once loosened, back the nut off 3-6 turns, so you create roughly 1/8 inch of gap between nut and knuckle surface. (This is to give clearance for the ball joint to POP)
Now we need to POP the ball joint loose at the knuckle. You can use a pickle fork tool, but in my case I purchased a Miller 9360 Ball Joint Separator tool. Pictured here...
The U shaped part of this tool fits inbetween the ball joint and knuckle, and the other part rests against the ball joint stem that the nut is attached to. The chain is used to wrap around another part so during the process if it were to slip, you aren't injured or another part is damaged. Simply turn the screw in the standard righty tighty sequence to make this tool POP the seal of the parts. NOTE: I didn't take pictures of popping this specific ball joint, however I have included pictures of the tool on the Upper Control Arm system for clarity of the process involved to POP the joint loose...
Now that we have that POP'd loose, we can take a 10mm socket and 21mm open wrench or adjustable wrench to remove the nut from the ball joint stud. (I didn't have a 21mm, so I used a 7/8 wrench)
Now that we have the nut off, just slide the ball joint stud from the knuckle and now we're left with this. (again I'm replacing everything, hence only the tie rods present)
Now lets remove the small clamp by pinching the ends together with some type of pliers and slide it down out of the way. Try not to damage the clamp or boot as we'll reuse these with the new parts as long as they are not damaged.
Now we need to remove the larger clamp from the top of the boot. This can be turned to access where it holds it's self together for easier removal. I used the same pliers to remove it as I didn't plan to reuse. That's what we'll use one of our new 2 3/4 hose clamp for on reinstall.
With clamps removed, now slide the boot down and out of the way. This will take a little force or maneuvering just to remove it from the groove at the smaller end of the boot as it's seated in the rod.
This now exposes the Inner Tie Rod nut that is tightened onto the steering rack. The white/yellow plastic washer can be pushed back slightly on the steering rack rod so it's out of the way.
Now I took an adjustable wrench as I didn't have an open ended wrench large enough to grip the nut for loosening. Once you break the initial hold, the inner tie rod nut will spin freely. By hand just spin the inner tie rod so it easily comes out of the steering rack. Try not to damage the inner threads of the rack housing.
Next we need to loosen the jam nut on the outer tie rod end so we can spin off the outer tie rod ball joint from the inner tie rod. I used my bench vise to hold the jam nut while I turned the outer ball joint housing itself to loosen the hold. Again, used my adjustable wrench for this process.
With the nut loose from the outer tie rod, we need to count the number of turns it takes to remove the outer tie rod ball joint from the rod. Remember the count or right it down as we'll install the new tie rod end the same number of turns that it took to remove.
Once you have the count and the tie rod end removed, spin off the old jam nut and remove the small clamp and boot. Here are the old (on left) and new (on right) Tie Rod ends...
Lastly we need to re-install everything in the reverse and torque to specs.
1. Put the boot on the new inner tie rod and then just slide on the small clamp, don't clamp the boot just yet, wait till you have the inner tie rod installed on the car.
2. Now spin your new jam nut on the rod past the point where your outer tie rod will spin to.
3. Using the Red locktite that was supplied with the tie rod ends, place a liberal about on the threads and spin the outer tie rod on the rod for the same number of turns that you removed the old one and tighten to spec.
4. Again put some locktite on the threads of the inner tie rod stud and spin by hand the inner tie rod into the steering rack housing, then tighten to spec.
5. Slide boot up onto steering rack and use new 2 3/4 inch hose clamp to secure the upper portion of the boot.
6. With the smaller portion of the boot in the rod groove, pinch the small clamp and place at base of boot.
This is what we now have...
Place the Outer Tie Rod stud back into the knuckle and torque to spec. You'll notice that the MOOG ball joint stud is different than the OEM we removed. The MOOG stud uses a crown nut with cotter pin and also a grease fitting that gets screwed into the bottom of the ball joint. I didn't take a pick of putting the grease fitting in the bacll joint, but it's easy. Just do that as the last step so you don't break it off. That's pretty much it. Just remember to get an alignment once completed since we may have altered the current alignment just a bit.
Hopes this helps you complete this on your own and save some dough.
Besides the MOOG Tie Rod ends you will also need two new 2 3/4 inch hose clamps. These can be purchased at any auto parts retailer.
Let's get started:
First loosen your lug nuts, jack the car up and place on jack stands then remove the lug nuts and front wheels. Here is where you should be after that...
Next we need to loosen the nut on the outer ball joint where it attaches to the knuckle. You do not need to hold the ball joint in place during this step. So using a 21mm deep socket or open ended wrench, we need to loosen the nut. Once loosened, back the nut off 3-6 turns, so you create roughly 1/8 inch of gap between nut and knuckle surface. (This is to give clearance for the ball joint to POP)
Now we need to POP the ball joint loose at the knuckle. You can use a pickle fork tool, but in my case I purchased a Miller 9360 Ball Joint Separator tool. Pictured here...
The U shaped part of this tool fits inbetween the ball joint and knuckle, and the other part rests against the ball joint stem that the nut is attached to. The chain is used to wrap around another part so during the process if it were to slip, you aren't injured or another part is damaged. Simply turn the screw in the standard righty tighty sequence to make this tool POP the seal of the parts. NOTE: I didn't take pictures of popping this specific ball joint, however I have included pictures of the tool on the Upper Control Arm system for clarity of the process involved to POP the joint loose...
Now that we have that POP'd loose, we can take a 10mm socket and 21mm open wrench or adjustable wrench to remove the nut from the ball joint stud. (I didn't have a 21mm, so I used a 7/8 wrench)
Now that we have the nut off, just slide the ball joint stud from the knuckle and now we're left with this. (again I'm replacing everything, hence only the tie rods present)
Now lets remove the small clamp by pinching the ends together with some type of pliers and slide it down out of the way. Try not to damage the clamp or boot as we'll reuse these with the new parts as long as they are not damaged.
Now we need to remove the larger clamp from the top of the boot. This can be turned to access where it holds it's self together for easier removal. I used the same pliers to remove it as I didn't plan to reuse. That's what we'll use one of our new 2 3/4 hose clamp for on reinstall.
With clamps removed, now slide the boot down and out of the way. This will take a little force or maneuvering just to remove it from the groove at the smaller end of the boot as it's seated in the rod.
This now exposes the Inner Tie Rod nut that is tightened onto the steering rack. The white/yellow plastic washer can be pushed back slightly on the steering rack rod so it's out of the way.
Now I took an adjustable wrench as I didn't have an open ended wrench large enough to grip the nut for loosening. Once you break the initial hold, the inner tie rod nut will spin freely. By hand just spin the inner tie rod so it easily comes out of the steering rack. Try not to damage the inner threads of the rack housing.
Next we need to loosen the jam nut on the outer tie rod end so we can spin off the outer tie rod ball joint from the inner tie rod. I used my bench vise to hold the jam nut while I turned the outer ball joint housing itself to loosen the hold. Again, used my adjustable wrench for this process.
With the nut loose from the outer tie rod, we need to count the number of turns it takes to remove the outer tie rod ball joint from the rod. Remember the count or right it down as we'll install the new tie rod end the same number of turns that it took to remove.
Once you have the count and the tie rod end removed, spin off the old jam nut and remove the small clamp and boot. Here are the old (on left) and new (on right) Tie Rod ends...
Lastly we need to re-install everything in the reverse and torque to specs.
1. Put the boot on the new inner tie rod and then just slide on the small clamp, don't clamp the boot just yet, wait till you have the inner tie rod installed on the car.
2. Now spin your new jam nut on the rod past the point where your outer tie rod will spin to.
3. Using the Red locktite that was supplied with the tie rod ends, place a liberal about on the threads and spin the outer tie rod on the rod for the same number of turns that you removed the old one and tighten to spec.
4. Again put some locktite on the threads of the inner tie rod stud and spin by hand the inner tie rod into the steering rack housing, then tighten to spec.
5. Slide boot up onto steering rack and use new 2 3/4 inch hose clamp to secure the upper portion of the boot.
6. With the smaller portion of the boot in the rod groove, pinch the small clamp and place at base of boot.
This is what we now have...
Place the Outer Tie Rod stud back into the knuckle and torque to spec. You'll notice that the MOOG ball joint stud is different than the OEM we removed. The MOOG stud uses a crown nut with cotter pin and also a grease fitting that gets screwed into the bottom of the ball joint. I didn't take a pick of putting the grease fitting in the bacll joint, but it's easy. Just do that as the last step so you don't break it off. That's pretty much it. Just remember to get an alignment once completed since we may have altered the current alignment just a bit.
Hopes this helps you complete this on your own and save some dough.