Is this possible on a 93 V6 Camry XLE? My concern here is access clearance to that end of the tie rod with a wrench and pliers to remove the rod and boot while the rack remains untouched in the car. Or is there at least some tool to aid in this?
thanks
dave mc
Opinion only:
In my w/shop manual they say to remove the rack to allow the rack end to be held firmly in a soft-jawed vice, so the inner "ball-housing" or inner tie-rod can be unscrewed from the rack after a lock-washer is tapped straight,...so it looks do-able while in situ as long as you dont apply too much twisting force to the rack while undoing the inner ball and housing. The 2 boots are replaceable with the rack in position, so they aren't a problem. In this situation, I would apply a counter twisting force to the rack, while you apply torque to undo the inner ball-housing. Cant see why it wouldnt work except the LHS (as viewed standing in front of the car looking at the front of an English or Aussy model [ driven on the left of the road) of the rack-end appears to be close to the cross-member. This may limit how much purchase you can apply to the rack-end with a pair of vice-grips with an inlay of sheet aluminium on the jaw-teeth to stop any damage to the rack or it may not.
I guess the engine may limit access as well,..but IME where you see a lock-washer (except in high torque areas like final-drive), you often find once the lock-washer is tapped straight, the thing it was holding will unscrew relatively easily.
Jason
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