inner tie rod tool

[mark lavrack]

Would any body know the size tool needed to remove the inner tie rods on a 2000 acura tl

Topic

[Billy]

If you borrow an inner tie rod tool set from the auto parts store, it comes with several sizes.

[Nick]

I know this sounds shoddy… but that’s what harbor freight is for. Go buy a decent size crescent wrench and grind it on a bench grinder to narrow it enough to fit. That’s what I do at the Acura dealer I work it. Make sure you get new lock washers between the gearbox and inner tie rods, otherwise you’ll have to hammer the old ones flat and reuse them, which I would not recommend doing.

[zero]

That wouldn’t work with a damn. On most modern vehicles even with the rack all the way out on the one side, it rarely protrudes past any subframe. Even if it does, the angle of attach from an adjustable wrench wouldn’t likely be enough to properly remove or tighten the part.

If your local part store doesn’t have one for rent, a proper tool is a little more than $100 or you can buy a ‘one size fits all tool like this one from Napa for $20:
http://s7d9.scene7.com/is/image/GenuinePartsCompany/NWMDC?$Product=GenuinePartsCompany/1234440

[Nick]

You usually don’t replace inner tie rods with the rack installed…. At least in my experience. Works fine for me, been working on these cars for 10 years….

[zero]

[quote=”AcuraTech” post=185472]You usually don’t replace inner tie rods with the rack installed…. At least in my experience. Works fine for me, been working on these cars for 10 years….[/quote]

I guess if you want to follow the service manual’s recommendations and disconnect the rack, drop the subframe etc, etc. Huge waste of time and effort when a tool available most anywhere can replace one in less than an hour. Easily.

[Nick]

Actually, on that particular Acura, dropping the subframe isn’t needed to remove the rack. Even if he had the proper tool that you recommended, it would still be very difficult to properly remove and reinstall the lock washers that have to be flattened on the ends with a hammer to lock the inner tie rods to the rack. So you would still have the clearance issue there doing that in the car, but that’s beside the point.

Usually the only reason to remove inner tie rods is to swap them over to a new gearbox. They RARELY fail. I assumed it was on the bench already and he was simply swapping it over to the new rack. That is why I made the suggestion I did. He didn’t specify if it was being done in car or not. So in that instance, it would work “worth a damn”. 🙂

[mark lavrack]

Thanks for your response-It ended up being the left tie rod. I just went to rent the removal tool from autozone and replaced both inner and outter tie rods, got an alignment , new tires and all is good.

[Author]

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