I'm replacing inner and outer tie rods. After finally getting those frigging jam nuts loose, the only difficulty left is getting the boots to go all the way on. I spent close to two hours on one, and that was the driver's side, which has much better access. I tried cutting slits in the end, and greasing it, and nothing works.

I'm seriously considering just pushing them all the way on and zip tieing the outer end, and putting everything back together. How would that idea rate on the Stupid Scale?

 

On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 wins you the dumb-azz award, your idea rates an 8.

The end towards the steering rack won't be sealed like it should and water/dirt will get in. Then the zip tie will most likely slide on the smooth rod and not keep the boot in place, allowing for more contamination.

I wish I could tell you why the boot won't go on, but I have no idea. If you are outside in a cold climate, maybe heating the boot up before you try installing it might help.

 

For the driver side I used a hook and slid it around the boot basically walking the boot around and over. It was a pain for sure. I could not do the passenger side, spent 20 min on it, then my brother come over with a pair of black rubber gloves on, reaches in and simply shoved that boot right over the rack. I have no idea how that worked, but I guess the traction of the glove was what it needed. Be aggressive with it!

 

Dennismik is right in that you should get it on if you can, but i've been running mine for years with no boots and no issues. Probably depends on how dusty/sandy your location is. I replace mine every couple years anyway because they're $20 and take 20minutes(depending on the jam nut of course). Good luck!

 

Dennismik, have you used OEM or after market boots? I got a Beck Arnley kit, and the boot opening is slightly small than the ones that came off the car. I looked at what Autozone was selling, and it's identical to the ones I bought. I'm assuming the original boot just stretched over the years, but I'm not sure how much that rubber will stretch out. Maybe the ^$&% things are just too small...

Decimus, you're an evil influence, but it's nice to know that might be an option. I'm in a pretty temperate climate, in Oakland. It was near 70 today...

 

I've never replaced those boots. My 97 needed the boots on both sides but I got around it by selling the car.

 

I used the Beck Arnley kit.

 

Since I get a front end alignment after replacing rack boots (via tie rod end removal), I give the new boot to the alignment shop for them to replace as part of alignment job. So far they do it as part of the alignment job.

 

Doing this as well today got the old inner and outer tierod ends off, going in with the new Moog tierod ends and boots then I'll be counting outer tierod turns so I got it close as hell b4 the alignment.

 

Success...somehow. The funny thing is, I got the passenger side to go on pretty quickly this morning. I used the boot with 4 slits cut in the end, and just pushed. Trying to push about the last inch or so of bellows up onto the lip, rather than just the end piece of the boot, seemed to help. The driver's side still fought me, and I almost gave up, but finally got it. I wish there was a trick that I could pass on, but there really wasn't.

Bonus tip: The jam nuts are such b**ches because you can't get any leverage. I ended up buying a 22mm wrench, and an 18" breaker bar, 1 1/2"ID to fit the wrench. (Two separate trips, of course.) Then I jacked the car up fairly high, to the second hole on my jackstand. I hung the wrench and the breaker bar straight down from the nut, lay on the ground in front of the wheel, and pulled it towards me. It came loose right away. It probably helped that I gave it a shot of Aerokroil 3 or 4 times during the week, but I don't think that made as much difference as finding leverage.

For such a simple job, it sure turned into a PITA...

 

Congratulations! Your perseverance paid off.

 

Opinions on this inner tie rod removal tool?
http://m.summitracing.com/parts/sps-...FclDMgodZFwAow
I need to tackle this job too.

 

I'm not sure if those are the right sizes. I THINK this is what I used: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...r+tie+rod+tool. It was a loaner from O'Reilly, although they told me the price to buy it would be $61. Maybe that was the used price. But they don't show the socket sizes, so I can't be sure. And I don't remember which sizes theirs came with...

I found that the middle size of this tool was the right size for the inner tie rod, and I got the old one off with it (including the retainer ring), but I had to use the largest size to put it back on, since the retainer ring made it too big. My kit came with a retainer with the sides already bent down, and it was a tight fit, so I had to put the ring on first (I pounded on it a little bit) and then install the tie rod.

With the right size socket, the tool itself is fine. I used a breaker bar on the end, and they came off pretty easily.

 

^thanks.

Got one from good 'ol HF tools with 8 different "sockets".
I think I'll even keep it.

 

Be wary, my HF inner tie rod tool does ok on the OEM ones, but for Moog or Raybestos it does not fit that well at all.

Ended up getting an $80 one from Amazon that works like a charm.

Oddly enough the same was for me, passenger side just slipped right on, went, woop and zip tied it (only thing that came with the kit :/). Driver side took another hour of cursing, water breaks and texting breaks before I finally got angry at it and slipped it on.

 

Son of a..Always something.
Tie rods come in Saturday. I'll check it out.

 

HF tie rod tool fits the Moog perfect.
I'm keeping it.