Inner Tie Rod Replacment with Pics.

[Oinktron]

Ok, so I wanted to share this with the Toyota Nation...

My inner tie rod went bad, STEALership wanted $510 to replace it, and when I told them, "no", that I would do it myself, they shot back with, "Oh well, you're going to need a "special" tool..". Yeah, ok buddy, go pound sand.

So, here's how to do it, WITHOUT the "special" tool. Although it's a Prius, I suspect you can probably do the same with other Toyota models. If you're a DIY'er, you might as well give this a shot first before spending the $50+ for an inner tie rod removal sleeve, or trying to find a place that actually had one to loan out that fits this Toyota config.

Ok, here we go...

First, remove the outer tie rod. Now, here's a tip if there's a lot of corrosion and turning it causes both wheels to turn: Jam something against the knuckle and the lower crossmember, this worked spectacularly well:



As it turns out, the left end of that rod fits nicely around a little bump on the knuckle, and the other end, sits well against the crossmember...



Now, here's the key, you can actually slide up through the cross member a flat or adjustable wrench. So, what you do is, align the head of the inner tie rod such that you can get the wrench on it, like this...



...another pic. for persective, after the inner rod has been removed to give you a better idea of that space...

[Oinktron]

...and the final product:




Hope this helps someone else out, and keeps money in YOUR pocket instead of the THIEVES at your local STEALerhsip!!

[elpiar]

Thanks for the write up.

I'm doing my inner tie rod on my 2001 celica, and it's stuck to the rack very tightly. I manage to get a wrench onto the rack, but it's really hard to grip the inner tie rod side, there is only 2 flat spots and i tried using a locking plier and it keeps slipping.

Ideas?