Tie Rods and More
03/27/2022
Came home a couple weeks ago completely fed up with how sloppy the steering felt. Every bump and lane change felt like a suggestion, not a command. I figured maybe the tie rods were to blame, so I crawled under the front end to take a look—and yeah, the video says it all. Not good.
While I was under there, I noticed the sway bar bushings were toast too. Cracked, dry, and basically doing nothing. So I started hunting for parts. Grabbed some replacement sway bar bushings off Amazon, OEM outer tie rods, and after way too much internet debate about what inners to run, I went with 555s from Trail Gear. They’ve got a solid reputation, great price, and turns out 555 actually manufactures a lot of OEM suspension components. Good enough for me.
Started with the easy win—the sway bar. Passenger-side bolts were a bit of a pain just because of tight space, and the mounts were pretty rusty, so I hit everything with a wire brush before reinstalling. Once the new bushings were greased and bolted in, I moved on to the tie rods.
Following my favorite 3rd Gen Mechanic’s video, the job went smoother than expected. The only real fight was the jam nut on the outer tie rod—it was practically welded in place. A little heat, a lot of swearing, and it finally gave in. Start to finish, the job took about two hours.
After everything was bolted back up, I took it to Firestone for an alignment and a proper brake bleed since I never seem to get that part quite right myself.
The steering already feels tighter, but I haven’t had it above 60 MPH yet. Tomorrow’s commute will be the real test—either smooth sailing or more parts hunting.