Help: "Inner Tie Rod" Replacement for 1992 5.0

I have a 1992 LX 5.0 with 120,000 miles on it. I need to replace the outer tie rod ends as they have never been done before and I'm getting a lot of steer play from them. On other cars that I had, whenever I replaced the out tie rods, I would do the inners rods as well just to have them done as a set. I have a Ford Service Manual for the car and the procedure that they have outlined to replace the inner "tie rods" has the rack and pinion set out of the car, and the replacement is done on a bench. I've never worked on the inner rods of a R&P set, so, I'm not quite sure how it is done. It looks like from the service manual that there is a pin holding the inner rods in place, and then a special tool is needed after that pin is removed to unscrew the inner rods. The Haynes and Chiltons manuals that I have don't even address replacing them, just the boot that covers the inner rods.

I did a search of the newsgroup and I see that on similar topics many of you suggest replacing a high-mileage rack and pinion set and maybe even the hoses and power steering pump instead of just replacing the inner rods due to the fact that there is probably a great deal of wear on all of the components, and the amount of work to replace the inner rods alone just doesn't justify replacing them alone.

My main question is: How do you replace the inner rods while the R&P is still in the car? Could I trouble someone to walk me through the process? Are special tools needed? Any little tricks I should know about? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Reply to
LX50Coupe92
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Sigh... Are you borrowing trouble? do the inners have any appreciable play? Is the rack leaking? Slight leaking can be addressed with the Lucas additive for it.

I've never replaced the inner, in place, on a fox, but did on my MN12 (tBird) and it was cake!

But if the inners and outers both have play, have you actually priced a complete rack replacement? And I suggest replacing the High pressure line, at any rate. Known to be troublesome.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

Ok, well I appreciate the expertise and your knowledge based on your past efforts. Thank you for taking the time to answer..

Now, I'm a curious person and want to know the procedure for replacing the inner rod ends on the car. Does anyone know the step by step procedure on how to get the old inner rods off and the new ones back on? Is there any type of bleeding procedure that might have to be performed afterwards? Any special tools needed? etc....

Reply to
LX50Coupe92

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