Any great secrets to installing tie rods? Just picked up a set of inners, outers and sleeves from Rare Parts.

I thought I'd match the lengths to the existing (aligned) ones, put 'em on, torque to spec, install the cotter pins, grease 'em up and get the car aligned afterwards.

Am I missing anything? Or is installation as straight-forward as it seems?

I'm asking since steering is obviously safety related and I've never done them myself. Consequences of getting it wrong are dire.

If they're tricky, I'll happily leave them to my trusted pro's.

Thanks in advance.

cf

 

You pretty much have it. The only other thing I might do is measure the distance between the front edges of the front tires (3 o'clock & 9 o'clock) before and after you change out the tie rods. If the measurement is fairly close (within 1/2" or so) you are good to drive it to the alignment shop.

 

I recently did this too, just get it close, I laid the new parts out next to the old and did some measuring and eyeballing, and drive slow ( and I went early in the day before traffic) to the shop.