Are tie rods difficult to change/install on an 86 camry?

[burnselk]

My son-in-law has an 86 toyota camry automatic. Today when he took it in for the annual safety inspection it was rejected....it did not pass the inspection.

They told him the outer tie rod needs to be replaced. Is this difficult to do? I'd like to save him some $ if I can. Please advise.

Also, are the brake wheel cylinders difficult to replace?

Thanks to all who respond to help.

Today is my first day on Toyota Nation.

[toyomoho]

Tie rod as in tie rod end, the end that connects the rod to the knuckle? Not that difficult. Need to remove the tie rod stud from the steering knuckle and then unscrew it from the rod. The stut needs to be pressed out with a hand puller or driven out with a hammer. Make sure you keep the new total rod length the same as the old total rod as this adjustment controls steering wheel toe in.

If you mean replacing the complete rod, the other end screws into the steering rack (not to bad of job to replace).

As to the wheel cylinders, are these the brake drums, rotors (easy job) or the actual brake cylinder or caliper that moves the shoes or pads (not to hard)?

Suggest downloading whatever info you can find on the steering system and brake systems for Camry at the link below. The AutoZone website may have some info, also do a TN history search on the subject as both have come up before.

If taking apart the brake system to get at the cylinder for the first time, suggest you get some kind of photo or drawing of where all the springs and other parts go. The drums or rotors are much simpler to remove.

All of these jobs are common and pretty generic in nature between models of cars. A Google search will also turn up a lot of info.

http://oregonstate.edu/~tongt/camry

[marc780]

If you just want to get by with a quick and cheap patch job, the tie rod ends are not too hard to replace. You will probably need a tool called "pickle fork" , because it looks just like a big fork. but they are only $8 or 10 and you can get one at harborfreight.com for a few bucks.

If you are just doing the outer tie rod, you will remove the cotter pin and the nut and then use the pickle fork and hammer to beat between the area where it goes into the other piece. Grease the pickle fork splines first, any kind of grease will do here. When it pops loose, carefully loosen its lock nut.

Now comes an important step that will save you lots of trouble. COUNT THE EXACT NUMBER OF TURNS it takes you to get the tie rod end unscrewed. Write it down. Then screw on the new one the EXACT same number of turns. You want to make sure to do this because you might save yourself the trouble of having to get the wheels aligned.

If i intended to keep this car for a while, i would change all the tie rods and ball joints too eventually. You will probably need a special tools/pullers to get the ball joints out though (harbor freight again - $20 or 30 dollars)

[IvanHoe]

the reality is that the outer tie rods are extremely easy to replace, but no matter how good you think you are at trying to put the new one in the same exact spot as the old one, you are going to need an alignment.....trust me on this. Also alot of the after-market ones they sell are at often times a slightly different length....and they have to be screwed further in or out accordingly. I just did mine and I tried SO HARD to match up the new ones to the same spot where the old ones were, I measured, calculated and spent lots of time, and I cloulda sworn I had them perfect, but even after all the effort, they were slightly off......the good news is that alignments are relatively inexpensive and easy to have done on our cars....ya gotta love the simplicity of the older Yotas!

[marc780]

No, its easy. Raise it up and start unbolting things. After that, remember one thing only and dont forget that. COUNT THE NUMBER OF TURNS the old one takes to come off. Then you dont gotta pay somebody to do a wheel alignment.

[IvanHoe]

Originally Posted by marc780

No, its easy. Raise it up and start unbolting things. After that, remember one thing only and dont forget that. COUNT THE NUMBER OF TURNS the old one takes to come off. Then you dont gotta pay somebody to do a wheel alignment.

It's NOT as simple as counting turns.....no matter how hard you try and think that you got it perfect, it still may be off a bit.

[marc780]

You are right ivan hoe, that was a stupid post of mine. The only thing dumber is that they make the tie rod ends in different lengths than original! Fargin sneaky bastages! That makes absolutely NO sense. Ok, i stand corrected.

[IvanHoe]

Originally Posted by marc780

You are right ivan hoe, that was a stupid post of mine. The only thing dumber is that they make the tie rod ends in different lengths than original! Fargin sneaky bastages! That makes absolutely NO sense. Ok, i stand corrected.

no problem......the aftermarket companies can be funny like that.
BTW, I love the reference to "Johnny Dangerously"..........."you fargin bastage"!

.........My brother and I still call eachother that to this very day!

[marc780]

I was thinking of changing my handle from marc780 to "the miserable corksucker" one day, it would be alot more amusing then my present one, as you'd surely agree ?? (BTW you can watch this summonabatch again on youtube, do a search for "roman maroni curses" and laugh your fargin ice off all over again)