1996 Intrepid Front Steering/Suspension

I have a '96 Eagle Vision TSI (LH same as Intrepid) with 57K miles that needs some front end work. Can someone who has done these jobs let me know:

How difficult is it to replace the inner tie rod bushings? What is involved and roughly how much time?

How difficult to replace a front wheel bearing?

Are the above common points of failure on the 1st generation LH body style? I believe the tie rod bushings are indeed bad given the high amount of torque steer that I experience upon acceleration and sloppy steering. But, I am surprised that the wheel bearing is bad since I have not heard much about this defect in this newsgroup for this type of vehicle.

Thanks in advance.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Shuman
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its an easy job, IF you buy the "two piece" style replacement bushings. Also, make extra room for yourself by removing the windshield wiper assembly (the whole thing comes out as a unit) and the air intake plumbing (if you have a 3.5L). You can have a helper swing the steering wheel side-to-side while you look at the inner tie rod area and visibly see the play if the bushings are bad.

Well, my wife's 93 has 207,000 miles on the original wheel bearings, so I can't tell you.

The inner tie-rod bushings are, as are the big bushings that mount the steering rack to the chassis (in fact, you'd do well to check THOSE before you waste time on the inner tie rod ends!). So are stablilizer bar end-links, but those are a very easy bolt-in replacement. Wheel bearings are not a common problem, but that doesn't mean yours didn't fail early for some reason.

Reply to
Steve

Hi Bob,

I also have a '95 Eagle Vision and I tried to do the inner tie rod bushings myself but then I discovered that I had a failed steering rack. I therefore had the job completed at the repair shop. Look in

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for additional discussions about this common repair.

cheers!

Bill D

Reply to
Bill D

Steve and Bill,

Thanks to you both for your thoughts. The sway bar bushings were done once before about 2-3 years back. I see that the replacement tie rod bushings come in both single and two piece designs. The labor to install is the same in the book and the two piece parts are about double the price ($33 vs $16). Why are the two piece superior?

Bob

Reply to
Bob Shuman

My understanding is that the two piece bushing is easier to install. The single piece requires removal of the rack - that's what I remember reading. If this is incorrect, someone will no doubt correct me. If correct, they probably cost more because people will be willing to pay the extra for the part to save labor - not because they cost that much more to make.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Reply to
Bill Putney

The left front wheel bearing went out on my '99 Concorde (2nd gen LH - same chassis parts as 1st gen LH) - not a major failure - just started making vibration/noise which I am very sensitive to. Mine went out at about 67k miles IIRC. The process and degree of difficulty is identical to every other FWD front wheel bearing replacement I have ever done on my own vehicles - everything from a Subaru to a Cadillac - pretty standard designs with minor variations.

Basically, unbolt and hang caliper, remove brake rotor, remove axle stub nut (maybe loosen with someone holding the brake before removing the caliper), remove hub-to-knuckle bolts (3), disengage lower control arm ball joint from knuckle (remove keeper bolt first, ball joint stud comes out easily because it's not even tapered), press axle out of bearing ID with a proper puller, pry/knock hub out of knuckle (if you're careful to coordinate the last two steps, you might even preclude having to separate ball joint from knuckle). Reverse procedure to install.

Be careful not to damage CVJ boots. When putting ball joint stud keeper bolt back in, be careful to vertically line the groove on the stud with the bolt holes in the knuckle - bolt should slide in - do not force in with a hammer (I learned that the hard when when I recently ruined the knuckle by not following that advice).

The inner tie rod bushing are a fairly common failure item according to what I read on various Chrysler forums, though mine are still original with no play whatsoever at 100k miles. Someone mentioned in this ng that if the outer tie rods are not oriented vertically before the lock nuts are tightened when alignments are done, they can cause the inner tie rod bushings to wear out - it is easy to see how that could be when you look at the steering system, and I wonder how many of the failures that I read about are due to that oversight on the part of the technicians.

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Reply to
Bill Putney

Thanks for the great detail on the bearing removal procedure.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Shuman

You're welcome!

Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Reply to
Bill Putney

Because "the book" lies. The two-piece type can be installed with the tie-rods in the car just by reaching down behind the engine and working. The one-piece type have to be pressed in with the tie-rods removed from the car, unless you have vice-grip fingers of steel.

Reply to
Steve

Ended up having to replace one of the tie rods as it was damaged as well as the bushings. Went with two piece. Thanks again to you both.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Shuman

Visit the following link

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is a very detailed site at the bushing replacement.The rack doesn't need to come out in any case, there is a special toolrequired to install the one piece bushing. the two piece doesn'trequire the tool. Having said that, I have very succesfuly installed a ton of the bushings without the special tool. Also look at the K frame bushing if you have a clunk sound. That is the usual suspect not a wheel brg.

Reply to
GUNBUNNY31

Apparently the tie rods have to come out for the one-piece bushings, not the rack as I incorrectly stated. FWIW, I don't think the OP related a wheel bearing failure to clunk sound - he was just asking how to replace the bearing as he suspected it was bad for some unstated reason. Bill Putney (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

Reply to
Bill Putney

Bill,

You are correct that the steering problem was not related to the wheel bearing issue. While looking at the steering problem, I noticed that the front passenger wheel made a slight "growling" sound when it was rotated. My guess is that the wheel bearing was just starting to go bad so I replaced it. (I probably could have let it go till it got worse, but I would rather make sure the vehicle was safe and everything was operating as designed.)

Bob

Reply to
Bob Shuman

Reply to
JNaysayer

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