Need help with Ford tie rod end

[Jimmy9190]

About 2 years ago I replaced the upper and lower control arms and front shocks on my mother-in-law's 2001 Ford Crown Victoria. It's a 4.6 V8, big old 4-door family car. It has 115,000 miles on it now. I also had to replace the left outer tie rod end. Somehow the threads on the stud end stripped when I removed the tie rod end during the control arm installation. I replaced it with a Duralast greaseable tie rod.

Last year I changed the oil in her car and saw the boot on the tie rod had ripped nearly in half. So I went to Autozone and they replaced the boot under warranty. I changed the oil in her car again today and when I went to grease the tie rod I saw the same boot is ripped again, but not as bad as the first time. It held the grease I pumped into it OK.

I don't know a lot about Fords. Is there any reason this boot keeps ripping? I thought I would just replace the tie rod again with a sealed unit, maybe that would stop it from ripping? The steering is fine, no noises or clunks or any other problems.

Thanks to you Ford guys for any help on this.

 

[default]

On my sunfire it has what I believe to be an original, or at least genuine GM tie rod end on the drivers side, the boot is in really bad shape and more dirt/grease mix than rubber. I grease the front end every 8k miles or so, grease oozes out of it every which way. Been doing this for over two years and its still tight. If it holds grease I would not be concerned.

 

[Kruse]

I'm wondering if it's the quality of the rubber. I replaced a rack and pinion and tie rod ends on a car of mine last year, the summer of 2011. The car has not seen 20 miles since then and constantly sits in the shed underneath a roof with no rain or hard weather attacking it. Just two weeks ago, I replaced the mechanical fuel pump on it and I saw that the tie rod boots had severely cracked and were ready to fall off. It had to have been a poor quality boot. The problem is that I'm not sure where I bought it from and I haven't had time to go through the receipts yet to find out. Even if I do find out, I'm sure the warranty is long gone.

 

[buck91]

I wouldn't hesitate to suspect poor quality rubber, which is a rather easy fix as energy suspensio makes PU boots for just about any application.

But first you might want to make sure there isn't something else causing it. Are you sure the tie rod is installed properly and not pinching the boot? Is it cracking in the same spot? Is it rubbing on anything during suspension movement or turning? If you can rule out any physical contact issues then I would go ahead and get a quality poly boot from energysuspension...

 

[mechtech2]

When the car is on the ground, center the tie rod by turning it midway on it's travel.
That's our best bet.

 

[zzyzzx]

You bought a cheap Chinese aftermarket part, and you are blaming Ford????

 

[cptbarkey]

sounds like the mother in law is offroading more then wearing out rubber boots all the time.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
You bought a cheap Chinese aftermarket part, and you are blaming Ford????


I am not blaming anyone and IIRC the tie rod end was made in Canada. And it wasn't cheap, either. I have no problem with the tie rod end itself, just the boot that has ripped twice. When I replace the boot I will just buy a new Energy Suspension boot for it. I am having a hard time finding a sealed TRE anyway.

 

[01rangerxl]

Maybe a bad batch of boots on the stock of Duralast tie rods the store had? I would try a different brand.

My truck had an OE tie rod boot rip under warranty, and the replacement tie rod end also ripped its boot in short order. Only on one side. The replacement for the replacement has been on there for over 90K miles now and is doing fine, no rips. Go figure.

If the ends are greaseable, a perfectly sealed boot isn't so much of an issue, though I wouldn't want a new boot to be ripped open either. My truck's greaseable Raybestos pro lower ball joints have a boot that is just held in place by the spindle on the bottom and the lip of the metal ball joint case at the top. Seems like the design isn't meant to be totally sealed allowing the boot to move and old grease to be pushed out. With parts that don't have grease fittings though, the boots really need to seal well and be in good condition.

 

[Jimmy9190]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
My truck had an OE tie rod boot rip under warranty, and the replacement tie rod end also ripped its boot in short order. Only on one side.


That is what this one did. I don't think it is a Ford problem. I agree that the rubber may not be the best quality. My Mother-In-Law is flying back up north for Christmas with her grandkids so I will replace the boot while she is gone. It probably would be OK to just leave it as is but for a few bucks to buy a new boot I would feel better about it.