Tie rod locking nut loose?

Is this the tie rod locking nut And if so is it supposed to be loose and spin freely? or snug and tight?. I had some steering wheel play for last couple of days and a clunk when turning it... after getting an alignment.


Assumed it was the k02 load range E tires causing it because you know they’re heavy and what not.


Then decided to check underneath tonight. Both sides were loose and spun freely.

 

Yea they are supposed to be tight
You need another alignment from preferably someone else

 

What happens if you just tighten them yourself?

 

That’s what I did but I’m unsure if the alignment is still good. I have lifetime alignment with firestone I’ll have to take it back to check.

 

Absolutely dangerous, tighten it, get an alignment elsewhere and bill the old shop.

I'd be in a world of shit if I did this. I triple check the tie rod lock nuts like a retard because we had a guy fired over a broken tie rod.

 

Thanks for the reply. Yea I got to double check all work done on this truck. And it was on BOTH tie rods.

 

This is F'd up man. You could roast two front tires in a hurry and dangerous as hell. Get it to a shop with a nice Hunter Hawkeye machine and get it right.

 

That's probably the world's worst photo lol But yes that nut should be torqued to spec. On 1st gens there's a cotter pin in it too, not sure if it's the same on 2nd gens

 

Yes it’s an awkward photo. It is a snapshot from the video I took. I got an error trying to upload the video.

I also checked cam bolts they were tight fortunately.

 

Not sure what you mean here. No cotter pins on inner/outer tie rod ends regardless of generation.

 

Need to load video to YouTube then post link here

 

Yes, there is a cotter pin that goes through the castle nut on the outer tie rod on the 1st gens.



Disregard red arrow, from google. Cotter pin visible thru the castle nut up top.

 

Yeah, but that’s not what the OP is having a problem with. Second gens have a cotter pin there as well.

 

OP said in his 1st post that the nut was loose on his tie rod, I mentioned the nut has a cotter pin on it. Other poster said there's no cotter pin on the tie rod in any gen Tacoma. He was wrong. Seems pretty cut and dry.

 

Totally not good at all. In fact bad and dangerous.

 

OP should post a video on YT with the shop’s name captioned and tagged with it and send a link of it to their upper management! I’d be furious if that happened to any of my family’s vehicles!

 

I had a shop not bend my cotter pins over on the castle nuts after an alignment .

 

Yikes!

 

There is no cotter pin on an inner tie rod as pictured by the OP. Your post saying there is a cotter pin on 1st Gen implies you're talking about the same nut pictured. You are wrong about that. The other guy is wrong by saying there are no cotter pins on either end but still, your original reply was completely wrong.

 

The tech forgot to tighten the keeper nut on the outer tie rod sub assembly when adjusting toe. Not the outer bushing which has the Castile nut.

Just to clear up any confusion.


OP, tighten that up to 41 ft lbs and then immediately contact the place that did the work and raise hell. Cause that's some dangerous bullsh*t.