I went to a Mobil station after hearing a lot of noise underneath the car whenever I went over bumps, potholes, etc in the road. I figured it was the shocks/springs. Turns out thatthe rear exhaust pipe was loose and the pipe was hitting the rear sway bar and that was causing the noise I heard. I can't blame myself for this. The guy I bought it from had it put on. Apparently it wasn't even welded. It was just sorta hanging in mid-air. THIS I will have to bring to a shop cuz I've got very little welding experience and don't own any equipment myself anyway.

But they of course checked everything else out: They said the left inner tie rod was worn loose and there was slight play in the right inner. The two outer tie rod ends were $52.41 each and the inner tie rod ends was $234.88 (just parts). Labor was $264.00, totalling $603.70. They said they didn't have to replace the inners but they might as well since they were replacing the outers. I have no clue. [sm=lame.gif]And then they said since they would do all that, they would have to adjust the two wheel alignment and rotate the wheels. Rotating the wheels ... I know I can do. But alignment and rotation would cost a total of $112.00.

I checked my Haynes manual for the tie rods and it only supplied three pictures, so since I would have no idea what I am doing, this would not help much. I looked up wheel alignment and it says at the end of the Removal and Installation for the tie rods to have the alignment checked by a dealer service department or an alignment shop, so I'm assuming that would be resounding "NO" in terms of a DIY'er.

One more thing. I don't know about other shops but these guys ... when my mom was going to have her brakes done and she couldn't wait for me to getaround to doing it, I told her to go to the same place she always goes (this particular Mobil) and tell them that she already has the parts and just needs them installed. They told her that they charge an extra fee for people who bring their own parts. Is that total B.S. or does this kind of thing happen regularly?? Cuz if I can get away with buying the parts myself and bringing them to a shop that doesn't charge a fee for that, that's what I'll do if I can't do the labor myself.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

Id be interested to hear the reply too since my mechanic did the same job and charged meover 600 so I want to see if I got ripped off...

Anyway I think many people will tell you to ditch Mobil and bring it to a real garage like a reputable independant mechanic, as hard as they are to find a good one. Because these franchise places like MrLube or MrMuffler of JuffyLube I never hear good things about them...

My mechanic also charged me $34.00 for wipers...I could have gotten the same ones for about $18.00 myself, or something like that...so for sure they mark-up the parts, something I do have issue with...

 

You candiy pretty much anythingif you've got the skills, time, and tools. The exception being like block machining, sleeving, stuff that requires some serious machinery, know how and experience. You should be able to replace your tie rod ends, with a little wrenching know-how. I can't attest to your skills, but I would probably do it myself. Just when/if you do replace them mark how many threads are exposed, distances from other parts, something like that before you take the old ones off. That should get the alignment close to where it was. Then take it to a shop and get an alignment. You can't really do that yourself either. P.S. 112 seems a little steep for an alignment.. I pay like 60 something at a local shop. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I say go for it.

 

If you decide to DIY, this information may help:

 

ya thats crazy fees, but they can charge you more for bringing your own parts because thats their extra profit from selling you their parts. it still probably wont be as high as youd pay total if youd buy their parts...


BUT no matter what you do its "ALWAYS CHEAPER TO DO YOURSELF!"
BUT JUST REMEMEBER..... right after you get done swaping these steering parts TAKE IT TO ALIGNMENT SHOP ASAP!!!!!
and if you can trailer it their if you got a friend with a trailer.

you could guess the alignment by measuring the factory tie rods before removing then when replacing put them to the same measurements, that way at least you wont be fighting the steering all the way to the alignment shop.

i bought some outter tierods for my 94civic off ebay for like 32bucks, tho i still havent replaced them yet. im going to wait till spring to replace my outter tie rods and hopefully by then all the pot holes will be fixed.

 

Another option is to go to a salvage yard and get the parts. Addiction is right about DIY being the cheapest way to go. Most people are afraid to explore how things work. If its already busted that's all the more reason to take it apart and see how to fix it

 

To all interested,
Go to acura-legend.com. 2nd generation legend (91-95). Engine and Performance Mods. And look up Inner Tie Rod End DIY. They have a great article there with pics too. 1stackmack.

 

Directions for replacement of inner tie-rod ends seem to indicate it is usually done with the rack out of the vehicle.

How difficult is it to replace the inner tie-rod ends with the rack still on the car?

Is there enough room to get the wrenches on the end of the rack expecially on the left (driver's) side while the rack is in the car?

My daughter's 1999 Civic needs new inner tie-rod ends and I also got an exhorbitant estimate.

I got parts for a reasonable price and was wondering how much knuckle bumping I'd endure if I did the job myself.

 

I cant seem to find D I Y on the inner tie rod.
New Tires on the 2006 Civic last week.
Sears Told my daughter she needed her left side inner tie rod replaced before they could align.
I forget the estimate,,,hundreds anyway.
I said I think I can do it.
The MOOG came today. $40 delivered.

Watching YOUTUBE videos on other cars they seem to need a special tool.
This diagram on this page...above..shows just a couple end wrenches, put I think the steering rack is pulled from the car. I have done outer tie rods, but not an inner yet. The outers were easy.
I learned one thing, always shock the ball joint loose. Dont use pry tools as it is so easy to tear the boot.

Last Month I saved about $1000.00 installing new ball joints on my Mercedes ML320 without the "special" tool the forums would have you believe was needed. So whats my point ? Nothing yet, other then big money can be saved on parts. I will report back after I try installation.
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UPDate 4/12/2011 For the Life of Me, I do not think the inner tie rod has excessive wear. I shook everything I could and saw no movement around the tie rod. Based on the tires wearing on the inside , I thought while there I would do a little toe in. I turned each tie rod 3/4 turn to toe in. So, I am putting the New MOOG inner tie rod in the garage cupboard until I am convinced it is needed. I think these tire places replace a lot of tie roads and ball joints that are not needed. Both Belle Tire and Sears are guilty from my perspective.

 

I did both of them myself, it was not really that hard to do.

It took about an hour to do both sides and estimate the alignment.

I would easily take $300 to do the job.

We ended getting rid of the car, it was a POS, traded for a 2002 Accord+$$$.

The dealer probably scrapped it.