Rep Power: 297

damn it was gay. can't really get into it cuz im at work..but i was making a right hand turn and all of a sudden my steering got loose and then i couldn't turn the car. we were in the middle of a usually busy intersection..but it was 12:15 last night (i was dropping off my blockbuster) so luckily there wasn't much traffic. anyways....the tie rod came off so i was pretty much stuck. luckily i had a flashlight and i was really determined not to get towed...so i managed to get the bolt back in and drove home really really really slowly with no nut or cotter pin holding it in.

my question is could anything else have been damaged? i rolled the car backwards a bit by manually turning the wheel (man that was a b*tch too) i think something else was effected because the whole way home my back driverside wheel was rubbing the fender...it usually only did that on hard turns (i tried fixing the camber kit but couldn't loosen one of the locking nuts and i was on a short short time limit, 2 days ago)

 
Rep Power: 0

No tie-rod allows the wheels to go anyway it wants... Which could have a major negative affect on many things.

 
Rep Power: 297

if i was able to drive it home...it should be ok right... i just gotta put another bolt and cotter pin...???

 
Rep Power: 0

what, the nut broke off?

 
Rep Power: 297

thats what im trippin off...it didn't break...it just came off....but im positive it was on there securely and the cotter pin was all the way in after i put the springs on..so im trying to figure out how the damn thing came off

 
Rep Power: 291

Know somebody who wants you dead?

 
Rep Power: 297

lol...could it have been that bad? i hope nobody wants me dead! when we did the springs..this nut..on both sides gave us problems..but we got it on. im confused as to why it took so long for this to happen seeing as we did the springs a few months ago

 
Rep Power: 329

assuming your going to try to put a new castle nut on it and cotter pin, make sure to check the tapper hole that the tie-rod goes into. Look for shinny areas, this would indicate wear from the tie-rod being lose in the hole. Also examin the tie-rod stud itself for wear. If there is ANY wear at all where the two parts fit together the part needs to be replaced. I could draw a CRUDE picture if needed to explain why.

 
Rep Power: 297

fock...i can already tell you that last night as i was shinning the light into the hole i could tell it was shinny on the inside. i thought it was just grease or lube or something...it was dark so i wasn't sure. and i can already tell you too, that the last couple threads on the tie-rod bolt aren't exactly straight...from hitting them to get the bolt out. thats why we had problems with these nuts (both sides) cuz the threads aren't flat like the should be.

how much are we talking here? by new part do you mean new strut?? and if the tie-rod needs replacing..can i replace just the bolt? or the head or whatever. or do i have to do the whole rod?

 
Rep Power: 329

if there is wear and you reassemble it you are risking it possibly breaking in the future. what ever part has wear should be replaced be it the strut or tie-rod. Im not saying they do have wear but they can have wear from being together and lose.

 
Rep Power: 329

here is an example of what it will look like and how it will cause problems. In the picture below you can see that there is wear on the strut on the right. If you assemble it that way it may be ok for a while but what happens usually is the tie-rod losens in the hole and causes more wear and will actually teeter back and forth like an hour-glass. The safety issue is when you have some sort of impact on the tie-rod and all the force is directed thru one small ring around the tie-rod instead of the length of the tapper as it should and the tie-rod can break causing DEATH, or ingury to yourself or others Now looking at the picture it looks like a lot of wear is needed, just remember it only takes a few thousands of an inch of wear to be at risk. EVERY car that comes in to our shop if it has ANY loseness where the tie-rod meets the knuckle/strut we recommend replacement of both items EVERYTIME!