Sign of bad inner tie rods?

I just got an alignment done on my truck and it was awesome. 2 weeks later i noticed a front end shake. I jacked my truck up and wiggled the wheel and noticed right away that the passenger wheel had play. the ball joint looks tight. From what i can see it looks like the inner tie rod has play. Is this normal? Easily replaced and does this cause a shake on the high way.

 

Anyone?

 

Yep, a bad tie rod will cause shake, and its really easy to replace. If you have access to a vehicle lift, the job might take an hour.

Expect to do an alignment afterwards. No matter how "close" you eye-ball it, when setting the wheel straight, it will still be pretty far off when you get the alignment done.

Heres a good write up w/ pictures You'll want to use a second wrench on the rack bar flats, to remove the inner tie rod from the steering rack. The thread ^ used a pipe wrench. This is a no-no as it applies torsional stress on the rack's gear mated bar.


Edit: My personal .02 on this: Replace the inner and outer tie rods on that side. You might as well, and since its already torn apart and going to need an alignment, just do them both. Its better than realizing 6months down the road your outer one is now bad.

 

I would buy the parts and either change them yourself (easy) and or have the alignment place do it on their dime since it will need to be re-aligned after, they should have caught that and told you. and its cheaper to replace all four inner and outer all at once and be good for awhile

 

My buddy who did the alignment at his hsop is dong it for me for free

 

Listen to SDSam, and replace both sides if you got the funds. Blanketing replacement parts isnt a bad idea. It'll give you piece of mind that you wont have to fiddle fart around later on with the other side if its nearing the end of its rope.

Make sure if you do the outer tie rods, you degrease it, and spray with a rustproof primer and paint over it. New tie rods generally are bare metal, with packing grease on them. They'll rust fairly quickly and look like ass. Just tape off the last 2 inches of threads, the boot, the stem, and spray. Roll paper towels and stick inside the castle nut and OTR adjustment nut, and spray it too (rolled up paper towel keeps the inside threads clean of paint)

They'll look nice, and last for however long they last.