Inner tie rod replacement advice
 

Does anyone have experience replacing inner tie rods? I have inner and outer tie rods, new steering rack boots/clamps and tool to remove inn er tie rods. The boots came with silicone grease. Is the grease for the inner tie rod or to get boot on more easily? Any advice on how to get clamp on over the rack? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

We do it regularly. If you have the correct tools, it is pretty straight forward. The grease is for the inner tie rod end, the boot just slides on. As you have to disconnect the tie rod to do the installation, sliding the boot on again is straight forward.

I bought inner tie rod tool from Harbor freight. It is SAE but the one size fork is so close it works for Boxster. It makes removal and install with Torque wrench easy. I figured it would be a 1 use tool but at $40+ dollars was worth it
I replaced boots with worm drive clamps

Factory axle boot clamps employ a pinch clamp that uses a $20 set of crimp pliers, the pliers are the same for all car makes and are nothing special.

I am looking at it and the left side doesn't seem too difficult but how do you get the clamp on the right side on? I have a crimping tool for when I replaced the CV joints but I was going to use hose clamps. Any advice on the right side? I have the tool I rented it from local auto shop.

Offset boot clamp pliers:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....bxkiMy%2BL.jpg

Easily gets into tight spaces:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....L._SL1500_.jpg

offset boot clamp on order. Replaced tie rods yesterday. Not bad at all!

Let you let me know where you can find off set pliers like that? P/N?, Supplier? Thanks

I did a search for the pliers and the first hit brought them up:

Lisle 30600 Offset Boot Clamp Plier

https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-30600-Offset-Clamp-Plier/dp/B0080J1200

I am looking at this job in the very near future.
I cannot determine what ball joint removal tool is the best one to use if one wants to not damage the ball joints on the coffin arms? The Harbor Freight one sounded good, but I cannot tell for sure if it needs grinding out or not. It also appears that the pickle fork will kill the ball joint boots. Also, can I replace only the outer tie rods since the ball joints are worn or will the TRW outer part not fit on the OEM inner arm? Thanks.

I had no problem going old school. Loosened the tie rod nut and popped the end with a hammer a few times.

The offset crimp tool did the trick for the inner tie rod boots. I bought the offset crimper off the Wal-Mart web site. As far as the ball joints go I used the HF tool on the rear which was a PITA! On the front I used the pickle fork but I was replacing everything anyway so didn't care about the boot damage. I have a 99 base USA spec car.

anyone got a torque spec for the inner tie rod to rack?

Thanks

Per the Bentley, Tie rod to steering rack: 80 Nm (59 ft-lb)

thank you Steve

I was able to get a complete set of very low mileage front end suspensions at a great price. I need to get the coffin arms off of that one to replace the worn ones on my car.
I'm ok with destroying the ones on the car to get them off (the boots anyway) but I need to learn about which tool I should use to remove the ones off the car without destroying the boots.
From what I have read, the pickle fork is out. But I am unclear if The Harbor Freight tool will work without having to grind it to make the "V" part wider. I don't have access to a grinder, so I am looking for a better solution.
While I am at it, it's also unclear to me if I need to lift the car to compress the suspension to remove the tie rods, coffin arms, and the wishbone link.
I think it can be done by just lifting the car itself, but I read on here somewhere that a guy said you need to put a jack under the suspension to remove and replace these pieces, or he may have been talking about replacing the struts. The 101 book isn't clear and it's painfully obvious that I need to buy a Bentley Book!
Thanks.

I just replaced the rear inner cv joints, repacked and replaced outer boots/clamps, coffin bars, track bars, and trailing link? bars, new H&R springs Bilstein HD shocks upper strut bearings, bump stops, dust boots in the rear. working on front now. I have the car supported by jack stands under all 4 jacking pads, wheels off to accomplish this. Suspension is not under load. I believe you need to put the suspension under load for a final torqueing of all bolts. If I am incorrect please let me know what you find out.

Suspension loaded not for all bolts but does need to be loaded for the coffin arm inner bushing and I recently heard for the center coffin arm bushing as well, the one that connects to the tuning fork end of the track arm. It doesn't say but if you have replaced the rear toe arm with oem, I would tighten the rubber bushing end once it is loaded as well. Basically the three rubber bushings in back and the to in front. I think the Bentley only indicates the coffin arm inner bushing though.

Thanks. I am only doing the 2 fronts at the moment, so that info would be most helpful.
Regards. Rob

Moved reply to the appropriate section