Track rod ends

[Scottd]

Shaking the front drvers side front wheel side to side there's a bit of movement in the track rod end. Surprisingly the other side seems ok.
I already have two track rod ends in my 'these things will need replacing at some point so buy when you see em cheap' box. I'm almost positive they've never been replaced on my '99 car.

Should I replace both at once?
Can I do it myself? - I'm sure you'd need something like a ball joint splitter to fit one so.. I'm thinking no!
Tracking would need to be done afterwards. Would tracking be enough rather than a full geo? Would the (local) garage need my Steve Butts Geo settings?

...and lastly, should I REALLY pull out all the stops and get this done before TT07 (road run)?


Cheers!!

Scott

[robin]

As with all things steering related, I could only advise caution - if you can get it changed, change it. In all probability it will be fine though - most owners wouldn't pick this up until service or MOT time anyway.

Now as for changing them it's easy enough. Once you have undone the nut of them all the way you can rethread the nut a few turns and then hit it with a hammer - you should be able to pop the end out like that. Don't be tempted to do this until you have the nut all the way off though, otherwise you might find you can no longer undo the nut.

If the new track rod ends have much longer shafts than the old ones you will need to ditch one of the two lock nuts, because there won't be enough thread on the arm to set the toe with both lock nuts on it.

You will need front toe reset but everything else will be fine, so anywhere that can set front toe that you trust will be fine. All they need is your toe settings which should be IIRC 0.2mm toe out, -0/+0.2mm (i.e. somewhere from 0.2 to 0.4mm toe out - on a 15" rim this translates into 0.18 decimal degrees -0/+0.18 degrees). As this is front toe, it's always quoted overall (i.e. the sum of the toe on both wheels), and obviously the steering wheel should be straight ahead position when you measure it.


Cheers,
Robin

[Stewart]

Scott
I had to take both TRE's off when I did my steering gaiters. I simply took a measure from the centre off the top of the TRE to a set point on the steering arm.
I recently had my geo done by Mark at Inverurie and he was surprised that the front toe was almost spot on.

I bought a balljoint splitter from Machine Mart in Dundee. I am sure it only cost a few quid. Quite a handy tool to have in your box.

[Scottd]

Thanks for that, clearly I didn't pull out all the stops and just went ahead an did TT's anyways. Car was drove like a dream - cat still on from the MOT giving me an extra 5%+ power - but by the Sunday the car was starting to creak and could hear the front right wheel bearing again. Last time was in winterbut I just shoved in a bit of grease and tightened it a little and aint heard it again until now

So questions -
should I do both track rod ends at the same time?
I guess I might as well get that bearing done too as it's the same side as the dodgy TRE
The ball joints seem fine at the minute, but they aint been done in the last few years ++ You reckon I should get em done at the same time?
Any other jobs I should be considering getting done at this time??
Like steering gaiters? They seem ok but rubber don't last that long on my - sits outside / driven every day car So can't imagine there's much life left in them.


I'm thinking it could def be cheapo garage time, or at the very least take the hub round to get the bearing pressed.

Cheers

scott