Buying OEM tie rods

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I have a 2005 Honda Accord (197k miles) and the tie rods make a little squeaking noise when turning the wheel back and forth. Can only hear it when stopped or going really slow.

So my plan is to replace the tie rods but I was wondering if I bought OEM outer tie rods and counted the turns could I get away with not doing an alignment? It seems like if the new part is 100% the same as the old I could get away with this. OEM is around $45/side vs $25 for Moog.

Also I wonder if I need to do the inners as well? I've read they last longer than the outers. This car is kind of a beater so I'm fine not going all out on repairs.

Thanks
 
Nope, my brother and I replaced the tie rods on his 97 Chevy pickup and bought the AC Delco and counted the threads, we were way off!
 
Originally Posted by Nick1994
Nope, my brother and I replaced the tie rods on his 97 Chevy pickup and bought the AC Delco and counted the threads, we were way off!


Yep, the length of the tie rods isn't precise like a connecting rod inside an engine, so one tie rod could be who knows, .025" longer than another.
 
I would check the ball joints very closely before replacing the tie rods. They are much more common for this type of noise, especially the lower ball joint, than the tie rod ends.
 
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Originally Posted by skyactiv

That method might be close enough to get to the alignment shop only, not long term.
 
If it's just the outer tie rod I put the steering wheel straight and install the rod so that when looking across the outer edges of the front tire towards the rear tire, I can just barely see part of the rear tire, perhaps 0.3 inches. This has worked many times for me. It's good to know the front and rear track of the vehicle. If the rear tires are farther apart I would increase the 0.3 inches accordingly.
 
Get yourself a laser level. Roll the car with the wheel pointed straight into the (level) garage and stop it with the e-brake ONLY.

Put the laser on the front tire bulges, at 4 and 8 o'clock. Aim it at the rear tires. Should just barely miss. Get a helper to measure how far out the dot is from a known reference, eg that tire's bulge.

Since the laser head is probably 3/8 of an inch from the edge of the level, missing the rear tires by 3/8 inch is zero toe, assuming front and rear track are the same (look the stats up).

If you know your wheelbase, some trigonometry involving inverse tangents would tell you degrees of toe.

But to answer your question, counting threads is not enough.
 
Originally Posted by skyactiv
It can differ where the thread starts from anything threaded, so don't count on it.



This is the main reason.

I didnt go OEM when i replaced mines, but i did count the threaded part but i also measured and mark the top of the jam nut and the distance to the ends. All in all i was able to get very close to original but alignment was needed anyways. The shop showed me i was off by .18 and toe was suppose to be arounf .04, its enough to wear down the tire but not instantly.

No way to cut it, tie rod replacements are cheap and easy, like $20-50 but the $50-100 alignment after is what gets costly. I normally just do both and call it.
 
On 90% of the cars these days it seems only the toe is adjustable. I must have done a couple dozen DIY alignments with a tape measure over the years and I can always get the steering wheel on dead center with no pull or wandering to one side. It may take 2 hours of trial and error, but that is still better than taking it to a shop and waiting or dropping it off.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
On 90% of the cars these days it seems only the toe is adjustable. I must have done a couple dozen DIY alignments with a tape measure over the years and I can always get the steering wheel on dead center with no pull or wandering to one side. It may take 2 hours of trial and error, but that is still better than taking it to a shop and waiting or dropping it off.


You do realize that the upper tower mounts is a typical adjustment point?

Back to topic, instead of counting threads, measure how far out the outer TRE stud sits from a point on the inner TRE. Since the typical outer TRE is the female and inner TRE threaded, make a mark on the inner TRE, not to know how many turns to thread it, but up further on the inner TRE to measure to the stud on the outer TRE.

That's just to get it close to drive to an alignment shop.

Can you do without that? Yes, if it seems to track and steer well you can wait a while, but probably not a good idea unless you're going to replace your tires soon and get an alignment done at that time. Otherwise, odds are you're going to put excessive wear on the tires and possibly suffer poor handling too. If you're not the primary driver of the vehicle so you are unfamiliar with how it handles, I wouldn't even consider guesstimating if it handles the same for someone else's vehicle, though of course if the old TREs are worn, it might feel a little less vague with new ones.

Quote
This car is kind of a beater...

On the other hand, if it is just squeaking without excessive play, and assuming it's a sealed unit (no grease zerk), you might see if you can get a grease needle in there to add some grease, or even a tiny bit of oil alone if there is almost no play. If that doesn't last long term, you're out nothing but the few minutes to do it.
 
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Originally Posted by Dave9
You do realize that the upper tower mounts is a typical adjustment point?


Adjustable for what? Can't recall seeing anything like that.
 
Check your ball joints as well - they will normally be the source of squeaks before tie rods. I just did an Accord - squeaked awful, right side lower ball joint was bad.
 
I did my Acura TL with a laser level about a year ago, I measured also. I only changed the outer tie's because of steering wheel vibration. As stated above by GMBoy, squeaks are almost always from the lower ball joints on Accords and Civics.

My tires are wearing normal. drives perfect. YMMV...


As for the Camber adjustment debate within this thread...

Honda's are not adjustable without replacing the upper ball joint with an off set ball joint.
 
take the wheel off ( helps anyway ) and set up a laser on the car frame and a distant target. Bounce the laser off the disc brake to the distant target.

You should be able to find a geometry where just applying slight pressure on the rotor will make the laser walk far on the distant target.

just be careful to not move the car chassis when R&R ing the tie rod ends.

If that gets messed up you can just use waxed twine to string out the fronts.

Remeber to comp for bent rims and tire bulges.


Toe is important, but you should be able to get it "good enough" Which is slight in with little camber or NONE IN with lots of neg camber. The Neg camber loads up the steering slack and steers to center.

You know how you steer a motorcycle? Lean it a tad and off you go! I prefer MIn Neg camber, 1/4 degree maybe.

Also MIn positive caster, 1.5 - 2 deg MAX. To much caster causes major Orbiting and suspension jacking.

But you should stay withing the Manufacturers design intent because its all related.

You learned this in the old days of MANUAL RACK and Pinion steering.
 
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Originally Posted by mattd
I would check the ball joints very closely before replacing the tie rods. They are much more common for this type of noise, especially the lower ball joint, than the tie rod ends.
 
Originally Posted by Nick1994
Nope, my brother and I replaced the tie rods on his 97 Chevy pickup and bought the AC Delco and counted the threads, we were way off!


Is AC Delco really the same as OEM Chevrolet?

AC Delco sells parts for almost every brand. Or re-boxing.
 
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