Hello all,
I found out today that my inner tie rods need replacing. The mechanic found this out when he went to align it. I ordered those and the bushing from Rodney Dickmans site today. I replaced my inner tie rods about 50,000 miles ago. I have an 88 formula. My question is what is the normal time it takes for inner tie rods to wear out. What are yall experiences.
Thanks in advance.

I was told I needed new tie rods ( for my 88 GT) at a tire shop ( They didn't know where to get them) and I got them from Rodney, they fit to a "T". But the wheels were still "loose". I had the steering rack rebuilt ( Rodney sells the rack rebuild kit too) for I believe that was the problem all along. I had 120K miles on the car, so I had the upper ball joints (from Rodney) installed at that time. In a 20 year old car, they may need to be replaced but not every 50,000 miles.

[This message has been edited by Old Lar (edited 07-21-2006).]

ya know ..I have a hard time believing that the inner tierods wear but then again the Fiero does not have power steering to push lubricant throuout the sealed system ..Having said that, I am still skeptical having a Fiat x19 with non powersteering rack that as far as I know lasts forever according to fellow x19 enthusiasts ..could it be in the design? Of course what else could it be?

Just wanted to add ..I am an Alfa enthusiast as well and my Quadrifoglio does have a power steering rack and I DID have to replace it due to a bad inner tie rod

[This message has been edited by Erik (edited 07-22-2006).]

my 88 coupe rack is bad, going to tear into it next weekend.

My '86 GT has 150k on it and I just had to replace one of the inner tie rods on it. I think part life really depends on alot of things one being luck.

Unless you are taking your car to a friend always question whether or not you really need new parts... when the alignment guy or inspection guy tells you that you need something. Selling you something that you dont need is a big way a lot of shops make money. Since the Fiero front end is sooo light, front end parts should last a long time unless you are really abusing your car.

Normally, they always last in excess of 100K.

yeah this mechanic I have known for years always does a good job and fully explains everything if he fixes something on my car he is very legit.I ordered the inner tie-rods and the passanger side bushing from Rodney Dickman I will get him to put those in and realign and see how it does. Thank God Rodney sells them the mechanic told me he looked all over town nobody sold them he thought I was out of luck till I told him about Rodneys place.

just pulled a low mileage rack (58,000 miles) off one of my spare 88 front ends and everything is tight except the passenger side bushing has a slight amount of slop. I will get Rodneys bushing and fix it. I really want to put some grease in the rack especially in the bellows to keep the inner tie rod lubed ..anybody else do this?

if it is the passenger side that feels loose - theres a good chance its the steering rack bushing.

I received the inner tie rods and the bushing from Rodney Dickman today. Thanks Mr Dickman you rock. I am going to have both inner tie rods and the bushing put on tomorrow and have it aligned. Hopefully that will be all I have to do to it for a little while.
Thanks for all teh advice guys I really appreciate it.

I've seen several bad inner tie rod ends - so far, always on the passenger side. These were on Fieros with 100,000+ miles on them.

In my experience, play at the passenger side of the rack is more commonly caused by the inner tie rod end than the rack bushing.

I had the inner tie rods and bushing installed today and an alignment done. Man it handles like a dream again. The mechanic told me that really tightened things up. He said that old plastic bushing was wore slam out and that new Rodney Dickman bushing helped out a huge amount. Thanks again Mr Dickman you are awesome. Thanks guys for all your replies I really appreciate it. The car is back to handling like it used to now.

looking at rebuilding my frontend here soon. One consern I have right now is the tierods hitting the swaybar. They hit pretty much all the time, when I turn at all sharply. I notice they are most likely not stock, so were the wrong size ones put in?

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Check out my 3800 swap thread and lend your advice!

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/072877.html

How does one determine whether the inner tie rods really need replacing? I got a rejection sticker when I got my Fiero inspected, the mech said the inners were bad. Granted, they are origional, the car has about 160,000 miles on it and I have replaced everything but the steering rack and inner tie rods at this point. But I don't have any play that I can determine. The car tracks straight at speed, I can take my hands off the wheel and the thing keeps going straight, no wandering and no noise up front. I took it home, put it up on ramps and shook the shafts coming out of the boots on the rack. Just to be sure I called Ed Parks... I think the shop is taking me for a ride. There is next to no movement at the rack. I think the shop is taking me for a ride. An (estimate) $500+ ride. Don't these guys know that we Fiero owners don't pay retail for parts, and never for more than a hour of shop labor?

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John DuRette
Custom 85 SE/87 Coupe
"Kinda makes you nostalgic for a Members Only jacket"

quote Originally posted by USFiero: How does one determine whether the inner tie rods really need replacing? I got a rejection sticker when I got my Fiero inspected, the mech said the inners were bad. Granted, they are origional, the car has about 160,000 miles on it and I have replaced everything but the steering rack and inner tie rods at this point. But I don't have any play that I can determine. The car tracks straight at speed, I can take my hands off the wheel and the thing keeps going straight, no wandering and no noise up front. I took it home, put it up on ramps and shook the shafts coming out of the boots on the rack. Just to be sure I called Ed Parks... I think the shop is taking me for a ride. There is next to no movement at the rack. I think the shop is taking me for a ride. An (estimate) $500+ ride. Don't these guys know that we Fiero owners don't pay retail for parts, and never for more than a hour of shop labor?

a new steering rack from autozone comes with both inner tie-rods, fully booted. hard to beat for $200.
anyways, to know if its the rack bushing or the tie-rod - you need to remove the boot, and look.

quote Originally posted by Pyrthian: anyways, to know if its the rack bushing or the tie-rod - you need to remove the boot, and look.

It doesn't appear that the garage did either. How can they claim mine are bad?

quote Originally posted by USFiero: It doesn't appear that the garage did either. How can they claim mine are bad?

because they can grab the tie-rod, and it wiggles.
one of the rules of the work I do: I am right until you prove me wrong. looks like they are using this approach also.

and, by usual mechanical rules & the average car - its the inner tie-rod.
only someone familear with Fiero's would think "steering rack bushing"