i'm doing this DIY right now - (great pics btw) but stuck on the 'removal' section...

was able to hammer the washer back, no problem. but when u try to loosen the tie rod, the steering shafts seem to wobble. kind of afraid to hit it with the hammer to loosen it....

so i guess the question is, do i just 'thor' a hammer to the wrench to loosen it up?

(sorry guys, not sure if that makes sense...)

here's a video of it the 'wobble'

 

I have one bad one, left front, I have to do one of mine here as soon as I can.

IIRC most instructions want you to support the rack when you torque the inner tie rod off, but I have heard most mechanics don't. I haven't heard of anyone breaking a rack.

 

so basically 'thor' it huh....

not sure if this is the root of my problem, but what i'm trying to do is reduce the 'play' in the steering... assuming that worn inner tie rods have something to do with that...

(did the outer tie rods and the ball joints late last year... why i didn't do the inners.... we'll im just lazy i guess)

 

Jack the car up and try to turn the wheels in and out on the sides (like the wheels should be turning) and in and out on the top/bottom. Listen and feel for a knocking noise. Find where and that is the bad part.

 

Nah. There's no play, but i think it takes more force to see the play of the inner tie rods.

So for the people that have done this before- does this need to be torched to break the thread lock from 10 years ago (when the car was built)?

 

Ya. So managed to he-man them off with a wrench. Still kinda worried abt the wobble of the rack. Hope someone has some insight on it.

It's a pretty easy fix if u know where to apply pressure. The claw washers were kinda tough. Hammering in them in was kind of a biyatch. Cause the one on top is tough to hit even with the steering wheel turned. (To lengthen the rack)

Aside from that. I gave up on the OE fasteners. Went with stainless zip ties. Think u need some special tool for that.

I ended up using the MOOG part with OE claw washer and boot. MOOG was solid.

Will check up in a few months.

 

I am asking my friend at Lex, but I suspect what you see is normal. think about the gear that turns the rack, that is connected to the steering wheel, likely your wheel is moving back and forth, when it hits the wheel lock, then your rack stops too.

I'l confirm!

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/steering2.htm

 

My friend the Lexus tech confirmed, that amount of play is normal.

 

awesome - thanks a million.

 

I know you ended up hammering the wrench to get the inner tie rod off but an inner tie rod removal tool is the proper tool. I ended up buying the tool for $50 for harbour freight, pretty expensive, but "thoring" the wrench wasn't working for me. For anyone else reading this, the 1.25" insert worked for my Moog inner tie rods. It was a breeze to remove and install the new one using this tool.

http://www.harborfreight.com/inner-t...set-69619.html

 

One of the best diy write ups on here I just used it and it's literally step by step, only problem I ran into was I didn't have car up high enough for an adjustable wrench so I just used a big set of vice grips and it worked great, thanks for the write up jeff!

 

This DIY is great but it doesn't look like he took the outer tie rods off. I replaced my outer tie rods about two weeks ago hoping that it would eliminate a clunking feeling going over small bumps. It definitely helped but there is still a clunking when I put my hands at 3 and 9 on the steering wheel. I don't want to ruin my outer tie rods that I just put on with the pitman puller, Is it possible to remove the inners without taking off the outers? Thanks for your response!