For the past couple of years the car has had inner tie rod(s)/track rod end(s) advised on the MOT. With the limited annual miles the car does, I've been putting it off

With the recent motivation for sorting out the odd jobs, this was on the list too. I ordered replacement parts from Conceptua Tuning, very fast delivery as always! The weather hasn't been great the past week or so, finding a break in the rain was difficult to judge but it finally happened. My friend Danny came over to help and brought along a tool to help with the job.

It looks like they haven't been touched in a long time



With the lock nut cracked off and wound down the inner tie rod next was the top nut on the track rod end. My impact gun made easy work and with a swift swing of a lump hammer, it released from the hub. I made sure to count the number of turns the track rod end had to help with re-aligning.



The steering rack boot had a small pinch clip on the outer end and a wire type clip on the inner. With those removed and the boot slid off, it was time to remove the inner tie rod.

This is where Danny's tool came in to help. On the end it has 3 round teeth on what looked like a bearing.This part goes over the knuckle and the tie rod shaft goes inside (giggidy!). As you turn the shaft the teeth grip onto the knuckle. I've probably explained this terribly sorry!

Anyway, it worked really well and they were off in seconds



I forgot to take a photo here. I ended up re-using the original locking washer, I just didn't like the look of the new ones. With the new inner tie rod knuckle screwed into the steering rack it's just a reversal of what was done before.

The larger metal clip for the steering rack boot snapped on removal so we had to resort to cable (zip) ties. Not ideal, but the shaft size on the new inner tie rods are smaller so the outer clip wouldnt work anyway.



The wheels looked straight so it was good enough for a short journey in the morning to have a proper wheel alignment.

I was lucky enough to get the car booked in with one of the STS Tyre Pros branches in Norwich at short notice. I used to take my supercharged MX5 here for any alignment, they always do a great job

I didn't realise how much rear camber it had, I'd prefer less camber but I'd need some camber arms to do so. Something to consider later on