Having a terrible time with the front suspension on my GL 4wd EA82 wagon.  

 

the problem for tomorrow is that there is some front and back play in the drivers side wheel.  it looks like the play is where the tie rod and the steering rack meet, inside the boot.  I haven't pulled the boot yet to check it out, but I thought I would get some preliminary suggestions.  the alignment was way out of wack for a long time, but now that I have rotated the tires and dropped the crossmember its driving horrible.

 

is that something due to misalignment of some sort or is it worn parts in the rack?  do the tie rods thread in on that end or are they attached in some other way?  when you adjust the tie rod ends do you pull them out of the knuckle or do you spin the rod itself and leave the rod end bolted in?

 

any help or ideas you can give are appreciated, its been a very frustrating couple of months dealing with axles and BS.  

There's the tie rod ends, which are the parts closest to the wheel that has the joint in it, and then the tie rod itself that the end screws on to. The tie rod itself threads in to the rack. It has a metal washer that you bend around the end of it when it's threaded on to lock it. Perhaps that thin metal washer worked loose and your tie rod backed off a bit, but I can't see that happening without the tie rod end being disconnected as well.

 

The tie rods themselves should not easily rotate, especially with the locking washer fastened. When you pull back the rubber boot you will see.

I used a monkey-wrench to loosen/tighten mine. Not quite right tool, but it got the job done.

 

I pull the tie rod ends out of the knuckle and spin THEM when adjusting. That's why they have a locking nut.

yah the rods themselves spin easily on mine.  ill pull the boots tomorrow.  I put a bunch of new stuff in (ball joints, bearings, etc) and ended up with worse feeling suspension, to the point of unsafe so Im hopping its just that sloppy steering.

I'm in the same boat, gonna do inner and outer tie rods tomorrow.

not sure if you replaced the front struts - but they have an inside and outside orientation.   You know, like  "This side out".   It is marked on the top of the plate where the coil spring seats.

well, inner tie rod is shot.  not really that climactic now that I have pulled the boot off and see what it is.  they are expensive though and the boots are shot as well, so I pulled the whole rack out of my parts car since its all solid.  

 

that said does anyone have a manual rack they don't want?  I will trade you for a power one, full setup, pump, lines, good rack +spares.

I got Moog tie rods off rockauto.com for a decent price

I have a solid steering rack in my other car, with good ends.  I just pulled the whole thing out since the boots on mine are bad as well.  going to swap it in as a unit.