Hi all,
For some background, I had an incident last winter in my Focus where, on snowy pavement, I bounced it off of a curb. The wheel ended up pushed back to the very back of the wheel opening and once I got it towed home I found that the inner tie rod end, stabilizer link and, of course control arm was bent. I replaced the control arm to be able to drive the car again, it seemed to track and drive fine so I (knowing that I shoud have had it checked) drove on for a while that way. As it turns out the alignment was further off than I had thought and it ended up chewing the front tires to shreds in a few months.
I recently replaced the (passenger's side) inner and outer tie rod ends, stabilizer link and managed to get the alignment close enough that it didn't squeal going around corners. Finally decided to get two new front tires and an alignment today, only to find that the driver's side, likely original, ball joint is worn. The tech who would've been doing the aligment said I should 'just replace the inner and outer tie rod ends' on that side too because they 'looked rusted and siezed on'. However, I just replaced the outer tie rod ends on both sides about 2 years ago and there seems to be no slop in them.
So, is it possible to just remove the outer tie rod end on that side and run a die down over the inner to clean up the threads?
And, does anyone have experience with replacing the ball joints on these cars? It looks like I need to grind/drill out rivets and bolt in the new ball joint assembly.
Also, Moog brand okay on these? They have spotty reviews on amazon but I'm not sure what other brands are any good.
For some background, I had an incident last winter in my Focus where, on snowy pavement, I bounced it off of a curb. The wheel ended up pushed back to the very back of the wheel opening and once I got it towed home I found that the inner tie rod end, stabilizer link and, of course control arm was bent. I replaced the control arm to be able to drive the car again, it seemed to track and drive fine so I (knowing that I shoud have had it checked) drove on for a while that way. As it turns out the alignment was further off than I had thought and it ended up chewing the front tires to shreds in a few months.
I recently replaced the (passenger's side) inner and outer tie rod ends, stabilizer link and managed to get the alignment close enough that it didn't squeal going around corners. Finally decided to get two new front tires and an alignment today, only to find that the driver's side, likely original, ball joint is worn. The tech who would've been doing the aligment said I should 'just replace the inner and outer tie rod ends' on that side too because they 'looked rusted and siezed on'. However, I just replaced the outer tie rod ends on both sides about 2 years ago and there seems to be no slop in them.
So, is it possible to just remove the outer tie rod end on that side and run a die down over the inner to clean up the threads?
And, does anyone have experience with replacing the ball joints on these cars? It looks like I need to grind/drill out rivets and bolt in the new ball joint assembly.
Also, Moog brand okay on these? They have spotty reviews on amazon but I'm not sure what other brands are any good.
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