1995 gxe

Last week I changed my tie rod ends. When I took the driver side off the replacement was the same lengenth. When I took the passenger side off the one that I took off was about an inch and a half longer than what the stock part is. So I took this one off and lined my rotors up straight then put both of the same sized tie rod ends back on. Once I did this the steering wheel was far from straight...it was up side down! So when I went to drive the car around, when I would turn to the left the wheel would stop about a full turn before it normally would. WHen I turn to the right it would go about a full turn past where it normally would. So I took it for an alignment the following day thinking they would fix it for me...nope. I got the car back and the wheel was straight now but I was still not getting a full turn to the left then over a full turn to the right. What could cause this? The mechanic told me I need a new steering rack, but I do not buy that since everything was fine before I changed the tie rod ends. Could the longer tie rod end been on there to make up for something that was screwed up? Does anyone have experience with this? Its a pain now for me to make U-turns to the left and also pull into parking spaces. Any help is appreciated.

 

Both tie rod ends should be the same length I though.

 

yeah they are. I double checked with my nissan parts guy as well, and they are the same. I don't know if I have a 3rd gen tie rod and end on that side or something? My build date is 6/94, and the 3rd gen tie rod is longer but its even longer than the one I took off. I just want my steering back and this is frustrating, because I thought I was fixing a problem by putting the right tie rod ends on the car and now I dont have full range of my steering.

 

So as it stands now you have one tie rod end longer than the other:

===----[ ]----====

Like that?

 

nope they are the same lengnth now. The one that I took off the passenger side of the car was longer than the driver side...but I put back on the one that was called for from the factory, so now they are the same lengnth but I am having this turning problem now. Before, when I had different lengnth tie rod ends on the car the car had full turning abilities. When this problem first happened I just figured it was because I did not set the steering wheel straight when working on the tie rod ends.

 

Hmm then. Have you tried taking the tie rod ends off the knuckle, straightening the steering wheel, and then reattach the ends? I have taken mine off several times and never had this problem. Also check the plastic bump stop on the spindle. See if both sides are the same length.

 

You need to go to a front end shop that knows their stuff. The rack should be centered, then make sure your steering wheel is correctly on the rack's steering shaft (centered). Then the tie rods adjusted so the front wheels are in line with the rear (thrust angle 4 wheel alignment hello!!). Then the front toe-in should be set.

After that is complete your steering should be back to normal once again.

I suspect your rack is off center because some fool took your steering wheel off to make it sit centered instead of centering the rack correctly before aligning the front end.

 

Dubbya, I already did that.

This sounds like a more likely story^^. We have one good front end shop in town but they are not open weekends so I have a hard time making it there (I work two jobs). THe guy I got this car from really had no clue what was going on with this car. Would the steering wheel need to come off again if your theory is correct?