Tie Rod Replacement 1984 GTI Rabbit

Need to replace my drivers side tie rod. I have just bought a complete new tie rod assembly.

First question.

Do I only jack up the side that I am changing? And where do I support the car with the jackstand, under the body near the where the door meets the fender?

Second question:

Both tie rods are original so the drivers side that I am replacing is fixed ( as in not adjustable). The replacement is adjustable. So the Bentley says to set the length to 379 mm or 14 59/64 in. I am fine with all of this. Next the Bentley says to remove both boots to measure how far in the tie rods are to be threaded onto the steering rack until you obtain the dimension of 69 mm or 2.716 in.

So the question is can I just mark where the locknut is on the inner ball joint housing and leave it there and tighten the tie rod assembly into the locknut? Better yet , don't even touch the locknut when removing the original tie rod assembly and just thread the new assembly all the way up to the locknut?

And one last question, anyone know the size of the wrench I will need to tighten the inner joint housing to the locknut?? Or will a crescent work?

Thanks

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I do this kind of work when my car is on solid blocks. Well actually it is a lamination of 2x12 about 10 inches tall with a removable ramp. I am not keen on twisting and turning on some jackstands. How much you need to lift the car depends on how fat you are. I am not really fat but I need some room to work. Driving the front of the car up on my wooden blocks and then jacking the back end up and setting the tires down on another set of blocks gets me plenty of working room. What some people do is dig a trench 4 feet deep and about 4 feet wide and 8 feet long. They make some forms and they pour concrete about about 8 inches thick on both sides and over the top. At both ends leave a hole about 8" in diameter toward the top starting about 8 inches from the top. You just drive the car over the pit and stand in the pit to work. Do not spill gas in the pit as it has a nasty habit of blowing up with the smallest spark. Messes up your hair when it happens. When you do not need the pit you fill it up with water. You install a recirculating pump in those two 8" holes and you have a redneck lap pool.

They give you the numbers because of manufacturing variations. One vendor may not make the part exactly the same as the oem did. I changed them on my 84 GTI measuring as stated. I then did an alignment.

A 6 inch adjustable wrench is too small.

Reply to
Jim Behning

thanks Jim

so I can leave the tire and wheel loaded to change the tie rod? or does the wheel have to be suspended so I can jockey the wheel bearing housing around to get the outer tie rod stud into the steering arm. if the wheel is to be left loaded I can drive the front end up onto my car ramps. I am slim, not fat...

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none2u

This will make it difficult to center the steering rack

Yes and I usually put another jackstand on another solid place on the same side as a backup in case of a jack stand failure. I use four stands total when the front end is off of the ground. But the bulk of the weight of the car is near the door / fender pillar.

If I were you , I would measure it because you shouldn't assume that the old one was in the proper place and that the new one is the same.

I don't think this will work

I just did this repair and I used an adjustable. It is a bit tight in there.

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