Tie Rod End

Greetings!!
As some of you know, I brought my project van to Taz Fest and had an upgrade of front disk brakes and a 700R4. A HUGE step forward for me, and a big thanks go out to Taz, RD and a gentleman from Wisconsin who’s name slips my mind me currently.

Anyhow, we found that a tie rod end on the drivers side was loose, attempted to tighten to no avail. Thought it maybe a bad drag link, and towed the van back home. Since Taz Fest, I got the front end cleaned up and painted. The spindles all cleaned up, the calipers painted and am ready to re-install the drag link.

I removed the old tie rod ends, they were obviously bad. Went to advanced auto parts new store here in Davenport and got both sides, new with lifetime warrantee for 35.00. Brought them home and I think they will work just fine, tighten the clamps and life should be pretty good. My question however is:

1. How far do I put the tie rod ends in?
2. Where is a good place to measure to ensure proper placement of the ends?

Any assistance with installing these would be greatly appreciated.

Respectfully,

Jake

jake start with the tie rod ends in about with half thier threads
sticking out, install on the van then measure the width between
the tires ahead of the axle and behind of the axle at the same
heidth off the ground, adjust so the front measurement is
1/16 to 1/8 of an inch narrower than the rear measurement.

the front disc brake modification will make the front wheels wider
than the rears. measure between tires behind and infront of the axle,
make the front measurement 1/16 to1/8 shorter than the rear.
It is the way the alignment machines measure it, they just do it
electronicly. some vehicles have the width on the front axle wider than
the rear. not always the best way to do it, tire sizes also make a difference
when comparing to the rear width

One way we have done it on trucks is to take some soap stone or even a ball point pen, , jack up the tires enough to spin and scribe a line at the center of the tread by spinning them then use a tape measure from that point at the front and back, it is a 2 person operation tho. pretty much eliminates any deviations from bent rim edges and wavy belts in the sidewalls. Just another approach.

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the assistance. It's funny, I am much more fluent with woodworking than auto mechanics. Once I read RD's first post, my thoughts were directed to making a "jig" to measure accurately. I also found another answer in the posts, I shouldn't need to take off the drag link to adjust it. I would need to have them be basically even on both sides and simply turn the drag link. Hopefully not reading into it too much. I would also like to mention the need to use anti-seeze on the ends. I found that bit of info doing an internet search on installing tie rod ends. Oh and one last question, are the clamps removable? I did get the bolt loose, but really didn't get the clamps to move.

Thank you very much for the info, I sincerely appreciate it!!

Jake

YOu are correct, shoes for the old girl won't come cheap!! That is a very good idea. I think I will just get it "close" and let the professionals finish the allignment. I appreciate your assistance!!

Jake