tie rod end? huh?

[chmercer]

the rubber boots on my tie rod ends have gone bad and the grease is oozing out all over the place so i thought i would buy some new tie rod ends that were more performance oriented, while i was replacing stuff anyway. so i found these kazama tie rod ends



but this looks so different from the factory tie rod ends that i cant even tell how it is meant to attach? or is it even a tie rod end at all, but somthing else, and somehow the poor translation of the webpage labelled it a tie rod end? if this is indeed 100% a tie rod, could somone try to explain how it is meant to attach to the wheel knuckle?

edit - all the tie rod ends i have seen have looked like this, for comparison (the 2 pieces on the leftside of the pic)

[Phax]

Check this out. The red part of the high performance part is comparible to the part on the left of your second picture.

The swivel ball joint that appears to be mounted to the red part, holds the piece which connects to the long pieces. The long pieces being the long, bronzish pieces on the right in the second picture.

Another way to look at it is the short pieces on the left in the second picture... you see how those have rubber bushings? The red pieces in the first picture don't have the rubber bushings. It has the swivel ball joint. That's what makes it more performance oriented. Instead of flexing rubber, it is rotating metal on metal. That is great for performance, but bad for comfort.

[fiznat]

yeah I just replaced my tie rod ends last week... pretty easy job once you get that $#@ing pin out of the top nut there... I went with just the regular rubber bushing cause it was easy to get at the local store and cheap to buy. The red ones will work just the same as regular tie rod ends though... phax is right.

[yeswepromise]

oh man i cant wait to get upgraded tie rods and ends. gotta get rid of those crap bushings!

[M3thod_Man]

any links or places to point exactl where it is under my car/ what it does?

[chmercer]

ok so the red part is the part that screws on to the tie rod. then, the longer black part comming off of the pillow ball has a screw on the end. the screw would be removed, the black part would go into the wheel knuckle, then you screw it back down. is this right? if so, what is the piece on the other side of the fancy tie rod for?

[Ceptos]

the tie rod (and tie rod end) is part of the steering, it connects the gear housing assembly to the LCA. the tie rod and tie rod end are the last two parts that directly connect the 'steering' to the 'wheel'.

the larger part of the tie rods you have pictured (lower pic, right side) goes to the inside, away from the tie rod end/wheel. the smaller end of the tie rod would screw into the red portion of the tie rod ends you have pictured. the black portion of those same tie rod ends would connect to the LCA. the silver nuts on the preformance tie rod end correspond to the crown nuts in that little baggy in the lower picture. they are crown nuts so a pin can be pushed through and secure the position of the nut on the tie rod end screw threads (there is a hole in the screw of the tie rod end).

the aftermarket end you have does look different in some places, almost looks adjustable, or maybe is set to pivot in a way to deal with geometry differences from lowering?

[Cyberkreig]

Connec to the lca? i dont think so.

IN the tien picture, the long rods replace the stock tie rods. stock tie rods are screwed into the power steering rack, and partly covered by a rubber dust boot.

the outter ends then screw onto the tie rods and connect to the steering knuckle, on the uprights.

The tien rods actualy include a spacer that installs between the upgraded tie rod and the steering rack to increase your steering cutoff angle.

[Ceptos]

bah, you are right...when i was thinking back to installing my coilovers for some reason i thought that they hooked into the LCA.

[Cyberkreig]

you might have been thinking of sway bars, which also have funny lookin ends

[fiznat]

now I wish I did a DIY for my tie rod end install. dammit.

[Ceptos]

i actually had to replace a tie rod and an LCA at the same time, i can scan the factory service manual diagrams if you want, they are for a 95.

[Phax]

the aftermarket end you have does look different in some places, almost looks adjustable, or maybe is set to pivot in a way to deal with geometry differences from lowering?

:Werd

The aftermarket one definitely appears to have more adjustability than the stock, rubber bushing one.

[WongFeiHung]

The only real difference is the pillow ball, being there isn't a bushing...The pillow ball will probably improve steering response...Looks like there's only one adjustment, for length, which all tie rod ends have, adjusts toe in/out...

[PROJECTRB240SX]

THERE IS AN INNER AND OUTER TIE ROD. THE INNER ROD IS THE ACTUAL ROD THAT ATTACHES TO THE RACK AND THE OUTER IS THE BALL JOINT THAT ATTACHES THE SPINDLE TO THE INNER ROD.