Hi guys,

did my outer tie rod end & my outer drag link. got them replaced. i will list some key points thru my entire procedure. feel free to ask me questions if needed. also, if anyone wants to add further to wat i been sayin, go right ahead.

i started at 9:30pm on friday night and i finished at 1:30am.

i had a buddy help me.

i had a plumber's wrench. very important.

as you can see from this picture, the original one had a busted boot and the drag link (top one) was starting to lean to the side already. turning left and right was tough to do.

getting it off was the hardest part. from my personal experience, it is actually more important to measure the exact distance before unscrewing the part(s). use lots of PB blaster to loosen watever ur gonna work on. important too.

get ur torque settings for all of them.

here is the pic for the new part installed. you will notice on my outer tie rod end (bottom) that the guide bar has been changed to a new rod. don't be alarmed. it's still the same.

also, one final note. i have read a lot of posts where some folks have done the replacement like i have. apparently, it makes no sense tat nothing was ever mentioned about it. when i removed the nut holding the outer drag link and outer tie rod end, here's the problem. the outer drag link cannot be removed from any angle, UNLESS i removed the bolt from the above sway bar that is attached to the sway bar link rod. the sway bar above will not allow the outer drag link to get out of the knuckle so that i can unscrew it and replace that part. man, was i cussing and yelling. lol.

oh yeah, make sure u get a pickle fork too. it comes in mighty handy when u have to separate the outer tie rod end from the drag link. u don't need a puller for this.

finally, it got done. later in the day, i went and did a balance and rotation, and my alignment. just did an oil change today, and she's good to go. now on to the next project.

 

I changed out my drag link without touching the sway bar. Not sure what you had going on there. Glad to hear she's right again.

 

Glad to hear ya got her going!

 

Looks like a lot of work, nicely done.

 

I know there is 2 Diffrent Front End suspensions on these

Both of you being an 05 though IDK

My 03 Drag link is diffrent than your Dom

Iv done enough of them that I dont take them in for alignment anymore

Use a Tapemeasure and a couple test rides The First time I did it I took awhile messing with it but finally Got it Honestly took me a Week Making slight adjustments as I drove to work . Now Iv done it a couple times It goes Fast I wont ever Pay for an Alignment again

Basicaly I would turn the steering wheel to Dead Center and then pic a couple points on the frame and measure from frame to the Edge of the Brake Roter both sides of the roter and adjust till the measurements are the same each side ( like Passenger side rear side of roter same measurement as driverside rearside of roter) If that makes sense I put a couple bolts on the Hub to hold the Brake roter on fulley seated

I tried to measure the Frame to Grease Zert but that didnt work as the Last car I did Cuz one tie rod was OEM and the Other After Market and were slightly diffrent length if Both parts were Identicle then it would work IMO

The First time is a Definate Learning experiance but after you get it figured out the next time easy. The Best to learn on is the Little cars that each side adjust independantly. But these trucks are alittle more Complex 03s anyway but definatly doable

Good Job DOM Did you go with MOOG Parts or ???????????

 

I went with motorcraft parts. I got a contract with my local Ford dealer.