BIG PROBLEM! need help fast.

[costa_rican13]

here's the story, i live in oklahoma, i have a 93' 240sx coupe. sunday(12/14) we had sleet through the night which iced the streets over on monday(12/15). we'll me being very stupid decided that i would drive that day on monday morning. well basically i was driving straight then somehow fish tailed and lost control of the car. and ended going up onto a curb that was about 6-7 inches tall. and well i bent what i think is called the inner tie rod on the front passenger side. My questions are: how bad is this problem? Will it be hard to install a new tie rod? What exactly do i have to do to install the tie rod? and about how much down time will my car have to have, if i work on this day and night since christmas break is coming up.. here's some pics of the damage... this is the tie rod thats bent on the passenger side in the front wheelsamething here just another pic





isn't it supposed to look like this? because this is the the driver side that didn't get hit...

[spank044]

Yeah, outta control teeners ftmfw! J/K bro. Order up a new inner tie rod at your local auto parts store and put it in. Since you are doing the inner, you might as well do the outer and a boot as well. If you do both then remove the old one and measure it for total overall length. Then assemble the new tie rods with anti-seize and put it in the car. Then get an alignment and your done. The work it pretty easy with a hammer, chisel, needle nose pliers, and some wrenches.

Have fun and slow down in bad weather before we lose another 240!

[costa_rican13]

If you do both then remove the old one and measure it for total overall length. Then assemble the new tie rods with anti-seize and put it in the car.

what do you mean measure them? why would i measure them? like for what? sorry i know its a dumb question and its probably obvious but i'm knew and only my coupe since july 4, this year. and i've only had to change rims, intake, exhaust, battery relocation. but nothing dealing with suspension..so yea why would i need to change the outter ones as well?

[GO240]

sweet

[-RJ-]

what do you mean measure them? why would i measure them? like for what? sorry i know its a dumb question and its probably obvious but i'm knew and only my coupe since july 4, this year. and i've only had to change rims, intake, exhaust, battery relocation. but nothing dealing with suspension..so yea why would i need to change the outter ones as well?

ok lets do this first, order new inner and outer tie rods and 2 tie rod boots. I got wicked tuning tie rods for 120 shipped and they are thick and beefy. The inner tie rod is the long bar the connects to the steering rack. The outer tie rod is the thick smaller piece. What he means by measuring it is you take the good tie rod out and make each peice just as long. The outer tie rod screws into the inner tie rod, know what I mean?

[tramp_drift240]

instead of just eyeballing it, you can actually measure by counting threads that are visible on the inner tie rod. thats how i pre-set my alignment when i installed my Tein inners and outers.

yeah, try to get new boots as well.

[spank044]

The reason you measure is so the new tie rods when assembled are the same length as the old one. See in your pic how the outer tie rod threads onto the inner tie rod. This is where the adjustment is at. You do this so you have the same degree of steering and a good alignment when finished. For being new at suspension you really should have it aligned by a pro after you put the new tie rods and boot in.

[costa_rican13]

ok so basically! i need to order new outter and inner tie rods. take off the old ones, and then install the new ones? and then after they're installed, how will i get the car to the place to get it aligned? drive it or tow truck it there? just some questions..cause my dad doesn't know how to do anything with cars except change oil and brake pads..so i'm really on my own with this problem so sorry for the seemingly dumb questions guys. but i'm only 17 with a 240 for my first car, and i don't have much experience at all, but i'm learning fast though. so i want to thank you guys for your help. and if there's anything you all can tell me more about my situation. it is greatly appreciated

[costa_rican13]

oh another thing guys. can you all see any thing else that might be wrong in the pics? or just that bent inner rod?

[fuse=--action]

It doesn't look like the rack is messed up at all. Just the tie rods should be fine. Of course I we don't have pictures of the front of the car. I took my car for a little off-road excursion a while ago and broke the tack welds on the radiator support on one side cause the tow hook hit the curb so hard. I have a tiny bit of frame damage, but my boss over at the body shop said it's not bad enough to be cause for worry, but we should fix it eventually. Plus, some of the welds didn't even have full penetration from the factory.

This should be an easy job for you. The hardest part is going to be getting that inner tie rod off. It will be stuck on there pretty well. I had a hard time with mine, but then again I'm not exactly a big dude.-fuse.

And here . Just cause it's my favorite holiday smiley.

[spank044]

Once you install the new tie rods then you can drive it to where ever you get it aligned.

Plus your tires are too big. In the 4th picture down it looks like the edge of the frame rail is polished. It might be a glare, but it looks polished to me. What size tires do you have?

[Firewind]

Just going to throw this out there... The last time I ran a car into a curb my steering rack cracked. But there was no evidence of it... Well that was till 2 weeks later of driving it, when it cracked enough so all the power steering fluid leaked out.

[costa_rican13]

Plus your tires are too big. In the 4th picture down it looks like the edge of the frame rail is polished. It might be a glare, but it looks polished to me. What size tires do you have?

i know they're too big. i have 17" rims, and i told the guy when i bought my rims, i wanted the smallest tire i could get but he gave me this tire that was like 2 inches thick from the lip of the rim. i think they're a 215/40(45) or something like that. i can't remember at the moment, plus my car is at my house and i'm staying at my grandma's house cause my dad is in missouri. but i wanted this size 205/40. its like an 1" from the lip of the rim.so yea. and the polish on the frame. thats not polish. its this white powder paint stuff that came off the road when the roads iced over on monday. but its not paint though but its like thick white dust or something. i don't know. i've never seen it before until now

[costa_rican13]

This should be an easy job for you. The hardest part is going to be getting that inner tie rod off. It will be stuck on there pretty well. I had a hard time with mine, but then again I'm not exactly a big dude.-fuse.

And here . Just cause it's my favorite holiday smiley.

ok how do you take the inner tie rod off exactly? like does it just unscrew from the pivot ball joint thing? or do you gotta pull the ball joint thing out or what? cause i have no idea. and my dads friend is like "this will be easy. if we can take it off then we can put it back on!" i'm thinking oh my god this is gona take forever." do you guys think i should just get the factory rods off a salvage or actually buy new ones. cause i'm not really wanting to spend $300 -400, on rods but if i have to i will.. well if not i'm gona hit up a salvage yard this saturday coming up since i'm off work. and just got a check so i'm happy but just can't wait to get drive my baby again. she's depressed now and cold from sitting in the garage for the past 4 days...

[spank044]

Don't know where you got your price, but it should not cost that much. Look at your autozone or napa. I see that you have them in OK. Yes they do just thread in and have a retainer washer to hold them in place once you bend an ear down.

http://www.autozone.com/N,1460...t.htm

[s13gebala]

i replaced my inner and outters and i must say, ita a little difficult if you have never done any suspension work.. if you did its simple