'81 240D Inner/Outer Tie Rod Replacement

[Big J]

This weekend I'm going to be replacing the inner & outer tie rods on my '81 240D. From those who have gone there before me, are there any gotchas I need to be aware of before starting?

It appears to be a fairly straight forward job.

Thanks for all replies!

[t walgamuth]

straightforward. i always count the threads on the adjustment and reinstall the same. often can avoid paying for an alignment that way.

tom w

[Rick Miley]

If you haven't bought parts already, complete tie rod assemblies are available for less money than buying both the ends.

[Big J]

Tom W. - Thanks for the thread counting advice.

Rick - I have purchased them already from Phil and he hooked me up with the complete assembly as you described. They should arrive today. Thanks

[Big J]

I got the parts from Phil yesterday, FAST as usual. The down side, they got here just in time for the cold weather . . . . .

The way the weather is here in Atlanta, it could be 75 degrees by this weekend. Oh well either way, I'm going under this weekend!

[Big J]

The outer ball joint on the passenger side of my '81 240D was bad, so I decided to replace the inner and outer on both sides.

Phil from Fastlane hooked me up with the parts in the usual expedient manner. I went to Auto Zone and borrowed a pickle fork and a ball joint compressor. I jacked the car up put the stands underneath and began. All in all it took about an hour and a half to replace both sides. The replacement parts were slightly different than the original in that the inner ball joint was long and there was a short sleeve connecting the two ball joints and the new on has a long sleeve and both ball joints are short. I got the alignment almost perfect!! I took a tape measure and measured each tie rod coming off and matched the new one.

The test was this morning driving into work. Georgia 400 has groves cut into the pavement. My steering on these grooves was always kind of squirrelly. This morning, I had no problems.

[BluEyes]

If you are using a pickle fork to seperate the tie rods, be careful on the inners. On my 220D, the centerlink boots were so close that I tore then open when I was getting the inner tie rods off the idler and pittman arms. Fortunately I was replacing the centerlink at the same time, but you might not want to do that as well!

[boneheaddoctor]

I would always get an alignment after replacing any suspension parts.....

Unless you work at a junkyard and get tires free an alignment will save you money in the long run.

[BluEyes]

Or you can make a track bar to check the toe yourself. All you need are a 2x4 and a few pieces of plywood. Really easy.
Checking caster and camber are more involved, but the tie rods won't mess with those adjustments anyways.

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by BluEyes

Or you can make a track bar to check the toe yourself. All you need are a 2x4 and a few pieces of plywood. Really easy.
Checking caster and camber are more involved, but the tie rods won't mess with those adjustments anyways.

Thats good enough to get you to a shop....as little as 0.5 to 1.0 degree variance can noticibly affect traction in marginal conditions...thats hard to achieve at home with a protractor...

[BluEyes]

Buy a bigger protractor. My homemade caster/camber gauge uses an 8" protractor which has 1/2 degree marks. Pretty easy to get it within that amount with a touch of patience.
But, for toe, you ought to be able to measure down to 1/16" with a track bar, which translates to 0.14 degrees of toe on a 25" tire.

I might be tempted to have a shop do caster/camber on these cars though, and let them deal with the cam bolts.

Whichever way you do it though, after messing with the tie rods you will need to check/adjust the toe.