About to replace Inner and Outer Tie Rod Ends - Any Suggestions to make it easier?

[livingez_123]

No sleeves on the 04, the inner screws into the outer. the older ones had the adjusting sleeve between the inner and outer.

 

[Wake]

I would do the pitman arm, idler arm and idler arm pivot, at the same time as the inner and out tie rods. There is alot of overlap in labor with this job and easily to just get it aligned once.

Good point, as mentioned a lot of labor overlap in that area. I replaced mine at the same time as the tie rod ends and found the pitman and idler arm to both have play in them.

 

[new2yukon]

first off, chive on rangel

also dont do this at 3 am after a few beers and a day of work under your belt, its possible you may forget that the inner tie rod is left hand thread... lol, may have done that once or twice

So which threads are LH and the inner rod? Which end of it? Is this on certain years? Manual, haynes, doesn't mention it....hmmmm....

 

[alc5m]

Wow. When I wrote this I thought I was in the gmt400 part of the forum I guess.

New2yukon that doesn't apply to the 00-06 ones. I was mistaken in what truck I thought I was talking about at the time haha

I had a 96 hoe as my first truck and a few obs friends as well

Have had NBS for the last 2-3 years

 

[clandr1]

If you do the pitman arm and idler arms, rent the adjustable pitman arm puller from AutoZone. It is crucial for doing the pitman/idler removal correctly.

Also, remove the three bolts that mount the steering box to the frame, then slide the steering box toward the rear bumper and rest it on the cross member. It'll allow you to access the pitman arm with the puller, without having to remove the steering shaft and power steering lines.

To ensure you're able to drive to the alignment shop, measure the length of the inner & outer tie rods, then duplicate that length on your new ones when you install them. If you don't, you might have to have the truck towed to the shop.

I just did this recently, check out my thread and it might help you out as well. Took me and a buddy about 5 hours, but it really wasn't all that difficult.

http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64735

Good luck!