Tie rod and track rod end replacement

[ozonehostile]

With an upcoming mot on my hdi estate I thought now would be a good time to address some of the issues, first and foremost of which was the dangerous lack of handling.

This is a guide on how to replace the tie rods on the steering rack and also the tie rod ends. Everyone I asked about this job said it was nessesary to remove the wishbone in order to access the tie rod but I managed perfectly well without having to remove anything other than the wheel.

All this was on my 2002 306 hdi estate but the same applies to all models and years of 306 with power assisted steering

Tools required:
Heavy duty pair of mole/vice grips
17mm socket and ratchet
22mm spanner
Copper grease
Hammer
Needle nose pliers
Thread locker

Parts:
Tie rods n/s and o/s
Track rod ends n/s and o/s
New steering rack gaiters
Cable ties

Symptoms of a worn tie rod joint :
Excessive shoulder wear on the front tyres
Unpredictable turn in response during hard cornering
Pulling left or right when accelerating
With all wheels on the ground wriggle the front wheels left to right, in severe cases like mine, the wheels have obvious movement left to right without moving the steering wheel.



Guide time:
(please note that I decided to do a guide half way through the job lol)

First off, usual stuff like jack up car to access the desired corner in question and remove the wheel. I'm sure you have enough common sense to use an axle stand or something similar to support the car because blah blah blah health and safety etc etc


First step of this job is to loosen the 22mm nut on the old tie rod end, only loosen, don't undo as you can set the thread length on new part to avoid having the tracking catastrophically out of alignment.

Next, undo the 17mm nut holding the track rod end to the hub, once the nut is off it might be nessesary to tap the hub with a hammer, or any similar blunt object of your choosing, on the end where the steering rack joins the hub just to release the rod end. Once it is free of the hub it's time to remove the protective boot over the tie rod.

The passenger n/s is simple, there is only a small rubber boot over the joint which just pulls off with some gentle persuasion from a flathead screwdriver
Drivers side is a bit of a pita but still relatively simple to remove the boot, this side has a bellows boot with a circlip attaching it to the rack, using your pair of needle nose pliers pinch the fastening on the clip and it should fall open allowing you to slide the boot off

Once removed from the steering rack it should expose the tie rod joint and you can inspect the damage

Nasty

Now to remove the damaged rod:
Take your pair of bfo vicegrips and place onto the ball of the tie rod where it screws into the steering rack, space is incredibly tight so you need to position the grips in a way that you have good leverage to press down, unscrewing the rod out of the rack, it will be in there tight but not so tight you need two hands, once you crack the Oem threadlock it will be loose enough to undo by hand. Once free you should be left with the complete tie rod and tie rod end that you loosened earlier, put to one side for later.


Clean up the end of the rack ready for the new parts

Take your shiney new rod and apply thread locker to th threads for added security when fitted


Time for the new boot. Youl probably need to cut new one to the right sized opening
Slide the new boot over the new rod
Then pull it up out of the way so that you can screw in the new tie rod, get it as tight as possible by hand then tighten all the way with the vicegrips again. You definitely do not want this coming loose

Once tight, slide the boot back over the rack and secure both ends with zip ties, quite a fiddley job but be patient

Passenger side is far easier as the boot just slides back on and fits flush to the rack

Time to fit the track rod ends :
Take your new parts and retrieve the old rods that you put to one side earlier, and what you're trying to do here is get the thread lengths the same by winding the locking nut up or down



Once you're satisfied, liberally apply grease to the threads and screw into the new tie rod


Once wound upto the locking nut, line the track rod end back up to the hole in the hub and push the pin through, place the new nylock nut on and tighten
Next step is to take the 22mm spanner and tighten the locking nut on the tie rod

Step back and admire your new parts


It's probably a good idea after replacing these parts to get the tracking alignment checked and adjusted, after that though the car should feel spot on, lovely sharp turn in response, precise steering, everything a Peugeot should be