I replaced the inner tie rod on my 99 infiniti i30. After putting in the new inner tie rod, I tried to put the boot on the driver side. The boot does not go on top of the rack. I prob tried for 90 min to get it on top with no luck.

Can anyone please tell me how to get the boot on top of the rack. Are there special tools.

Thanks

 

Oh, that's a pain in the ***.

What I did was cut some small slits on the lip of the boot to allow you to get it over the lip on the rack. Then zip tie it down.

 

I used a hook - Slide the hook under the boot, slip the boot on the bottom and work the hook around the boot pushing it up onto the rack. Your basically pulling it open and onto the rack as you go around. Lube it up so it slides over easy. I just did this job a few weeks ago.

 

Thanks for all the help. I will try the hook method if that does not work will do the cutting method.

for now, my old boot was torn on the smaller end, the other end was still good, so I took the new boot and inserted into the torn end of the old boot (the old boot is about half the size now), they sort of fit nicely. dont see a gap, pushed the new boot all the way in, so that the old and new one stay as close as possible and avoid any dirt from getting in.

I have 197000 miles on the car, if i can get another 2 yrs out of the car, will be happy.

The local shop quoted 150 for labor + 84 for just the boots. Got a coupon from advance auto parts and replaced the inner tie rod and boot for about $50.

 

I had the same problem when I did mine a long time ago but finally got it. I did this same job on a nissan sentra just recently and was having the same problem. What i realized is these boots stretch quite a bit (or at least these ones did for the sentra) so I put the bottom portion on and then literally stretched the opening with 2 fingers from each hand and it went right on then. For some reason I didn't think of this earlier and was just try to push it on but then one part would go on the other part would then come off. Maybe give that a shot. Good luck!

 

I had same problem when I did mine, the eBay boots is just not right and I could not get it on no matter what I did, finally, went to Advance Auto to get a different set, lube it with engine oil then twisted back and forth and finally was able to get them on.