Cars House

Should I be able to move them around by hand at all? If I lie under the car on my back, reach up, and grab the tie rod ends like a barbell, I can twist them about 1/4 of a rotation quite easily. Sort of like twisting the throttle on a motorcycle. Is that normal or are my tie rods both shot?

Come on... Somebody knows. Throw me a frickin' bone, here! :(

if they twist easily by hand they are worn.
a better test for tie rod and tie rod end is this.
while parked, grip wheel at 9 and 3 and attempt to find movement. if any, then either the ball at tie rod end is excessive or the ball at the tie rod where it screws to rack is worn.
have replaced these on a mazda, but not yet my bimmer as not yet a need. never did the hand grip twist you mention, but the new replacements were very stiff compared to the old tie rods i removed.

a better test for tie rod and tie rod end is this.
while parked, grip wheel at 9 and 3 and attempt to find movement.

Just to clarify... That's with the full weight of the car on the wheel? Not with the car jacked up off the ground?

_~` o-o (<- thrown bone) Twisting them is not such a big deal. If there is up/down side to side in/out play then they are worn.

oh, hadnot noticed the follow up question.
i meant, test with weight on ground.
then, if any movement, jack car front and attempt to isolate movement to either the inner tierod ball or the ball in the tierod end.
of course, in extreme case can be excessive wear at both locations.

Yeah they should move. They'll have a good bit of play, but it's not slop. It's just the ball joint doing it's job.

Are you having problems with the steering or what?

I just did new ones, they had no slop but were frozen from being on the car for so long!

The 9/3 test is good for checking wheels bearings, but I don't know about steering. Seems like there are other things that could move also. How about just turning the steering wheel and having somebody watch for wheel/tie rod movement?

when i say movement,-i can call it slop- i mean that during the 3 to 9 movement test by gripping tire with weight on ground there should not be movement at the wheel. movement due to slop at the 2 locations mentioned can be further verified by closer exam.
yes, do not confuse with a bad bearing which is a seperate test.
do not confuse with ball joint test.

Can you explain these two different tests? I've never heard of using the wheel test for anything but wheel bearings.

Sometimes ball joints are checked by squeezing them with some vice grips and feeling/looking for movement.

Yeah they should move. They'll have a good bit of play, but it's not slop. It's just the ball joint doing it's job.

Are you having problems with the steering or what? My steering wheel is shaking a lot on the freeway. I don't think the tie rods would necessarily cause that, but regardless I'm crawling around under the front end trying to see if anything looks worn out. Trouble is, I don't really know what I'm looking for. I noticed the tie rod ends both twist about the same amount and it seems like that's how they're supposed to be, but I wasn't sure. So I guess I need to keep looking. Wheels are straight and balanced so I guess either I need new control arms or maybe wheel bearings? :dunno

Thanks for all the help, guys... keep it up!

Matthew C Smith -- Any idea where I can find a tie-rod replacement how to? I know mine are bad and need to be replaced

okay

9 and 3 is for tie rods, hence the left and right motion

12 and 6 are for ball joints. the up and down

if you can twist the tierod, its bad. but make sure is it the inner or outer tierods. most cars have inner and outer. not sure on bimmer. can check later for you

Matthew C Smith -- Any idea where I can find a tie-rod replacement how to? I know mine are bad and need to be replaced

I think I did one of those. Check my page. I know I've changed them but I forget if I did a write up on them. It'll be down for the next couple of hours. The transformer over at Rose blew up today...