Steering rack end-play

[EstoMax]

hey all,

I wanted to ask you guys how much tie rod end play is acceptable? I noticed that my driver side steering rack boot is torn and the grease is coming out, so I jacked the car up to see if there is any play in there from it getting worn. The driver side with the worn boot was fine, but the passenger side with the ok boot has some play, very little (I measured the outer edge of the wheel and it moves about 2mm on the outer edge of the tire.. so the tie rod itself moves a fraction of that)

whats you guys' input on this? Should i be replacing my whole rack or just the torn boot..

cheersMarko

[goldfish]

Your passenger wheel play... fix that.

I've seen pictures of cars that had a failed tie-rod... Your car would be a total loss, you might die etc... at even a low speed.

Leaking grease is one thing, but what you're describing sounds bad.

It's possible the ball joint on that tie-rod is worn out and that's where the play is or the tie-rod itself has unscrewed. Either way you need to fix.

Replace both rods and boots and tie-rod ends. Safe over sorry any day.