What should I do about my tie rod ends? opinions on safety needed.

[daeron]

Okay, the short version is here, if you want to read more about my issue i discussed it in a thread here .

 

Short version as follows.. I hit a curb at about 15-20 mph, essentially head on, and popped a tire, and pushed an old tie rod (OEM, 138K) over the edge. I bought the lowest priced and easiest available part (since it was cheap AND close and I only had about 50 bucks total.. and forty was an average price per piece versus 18 apiece at the place down the street) When I installed them, I stripped one of the castle nuts out trying to seat the balljoint stud properly. Once I got the stripped nut off, I grabbed a poor pair of calipers I have here (stamped out of sheetmetal but at LEAST accurate to ~0.2 mm or so.. if not 0.1) and checked the measurements.. three points, between the threads, at the narrowest part of the spline, and at the widest part of the spline. Ill try a little graph here..

 

old stud (mm) new stud (mm)

(-)9 ________10

12__________13

14(+) ______ 15(+)

 

so it was basically about a mm wider at all points. the diameter of the stud right at the joint between spline and bearing housing was the same as the original, but the thread didn't all come out and the body of the tierod end is positioned a little lower than it should be. This is causing a wheel clearance issue on one side, and is also preventing me from pinning the castle nut on one side (on the other it got replaced with a lugnut of the same thread as the stud.. all I had.) I get a rub on the inner rim when im braking, and turning left predominantly.. at some speed/steering combinations its omnipresent, others nonexistent, and it doesnt seem to occur at high speed.. but I havent verified that, I just lose track of the noises when they blur together (I hope that makes sense.) The contact point on the tie rod end is on the solid steel casting, not near the balljoint bottom plate.

 

Should I just get some locknuts for the studs, and take my dremel and ground out the requisite clearance on the tierod end? It shouldn't take too much. I believe small wheel spacers would also alleviate the problem. I would like to try to avoid spending 60-80 bucks on new ones when i just spent 35 that I dont think I can recover, but I need to get the car properly aligned before i ruin my tires. it is OK right now but I put mileage on the vehicle... and it wont take long to be bad. I would like as many opinions as possible.

 

_most_ questions should be answered in the thread linked above, but feel free to ask anyway. there are a total of about four or five threads exposed above the shoulder of the bearing housing, so a locknut should hold 40 ft lbs of torque OK.. but if I would be best off replacing the tie rod ends, I will see if I can get any understanding at the parts store. I used to work there, AND I used to take care of the store managers Chihuahua before that, so he knows and likes me... maybe

 

Thanks for the feedback, I tried to keep this as short as possible while painting a full picture.