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97 Intrepid shakes during accelleration

Hello All, I have a 1997 Intrepid with 88k miles. Lately when starting from a dead stop it will almost shake the wheel out of my hand from 45 - 55 Mph. it's like hitting a lot of little speed bumps really fast. Or as my female friend described it... "the front end was galloping." I had the wheels rebalanced - no change. I had the tires completely removed from the rims and inspected for bad belts, etc - no change. The completely rebalance them from scratch on a Hunter tire machine - No Change. They checked for bad struts, etc. - nothing Today when the car was up on the rack the tech noticed that the driver side wheel seems to have some play in it. He said it was the Inner Tie Rod bushing? But then also stated it was a "Dealer Only" repair. The shop manager said that the "Dealer Only" stuff was B.S. and said that the part number of the inner tie rod bushing is NAPA 274-9182. No joke, he pulled the number out of his memory and wrote it down for me.

Here are my questions:

  1. Is it true that this is a "dealer only" type of repair.
  2. If not, is this something that any decent front end shop can fix?
  3. How much should the parts and labor cost in Southern US non-dealer shop?

Thanks, Wayne K.

Reply to
Wayne K.
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Maybe. Aftermarket sources have two types of inner tie rod bushings listed. The one-piece one is supposed to be pressed into the eye of the old tie rod. It's very difficult to do, may as well consider it impossible. DON'T ask how I know. The two-piece type is much easier to use but doesn't last as long.

The factory supplies the bushing only as part of the entire inner tie rod.

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I don't know and won't guess, but remember that if you do it yourself you will need to have the front end aligned for toe-in anyway, once it's all together.

-GP

Reply to
Gene Poon

GP not true, you can get the bushing kit from the dealer, yes it is a pain to install unless you have the tool to install them with.

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Reply to
damnnickname

First of all if the place that balanced your wheels didnt see this the first time around I wouldnt want them even trying to fix my vehicle. And since they told you it was a dealer only repair that is the second reason to not have them touch your vehicle. Independents that are afraid to work on cars or dont know what they are doing will always use that excuse, they take your money and then say take it to the dealer. A common practice they use.

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Reply to
damnnickname

Reply to
Wayne Racine

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