Inner tie rod

[etho1416]

I have a 2009 base model corolla. I hit a curb over the weekend and bent my right front passenger side inner tie rod.

According to both the dealer and the toyota tech TIS site (I got a 2 day subscription to see about repairing myself) you can't replace an inner tie rod on this car! You have to replace the entire steering sub-assembly. This seems insane. I checked and you could replace just the inner tie rod on the last generation corolla. The different in parts cost is huge, $70 versus $890! Plus lots more labor.

Now my question is, can I replace the innter tie rod on this car. Even though toyota won't sell me the part or provide instructions, I do see that online car parts stores do sell the inner tie rod for this car.

So does anyone know if this repair (replacing the inner tie rod) is possible and where I could get instructions on doing it?

[etho1416]

actually, I am not sure if I can buy just the inner tie rod. The website I found it on mis-labeled it as the inner part when it is actually the outer part that connects tot he wheel. Hmmmm....

[nevermind65]

I went to Rockauto. They only show the outer, but they show a complete rack unit. If you read the description, they say it is complete with inner tie rod ends. From this description, they must be serviceable, but they do not sell them.

Here is a picture from another site:



It is replaceable, but they do not show any part number. How much is it bent? If I couldn't get a new one, I would remove the old one, heat it up and straighten it, and put it back on. No way would I buy a new rack for that.

[Jeff Lange]

There are a few newer Toyota vehicles that do not list inner tie rods separate from the rack assembly. Not sure why, but I can confirm that Toyota in fact does not sell these parts.

:\

Jeff

[pmesfun]

^What about from the 08 Corolla? The inner tie rods looks very similar to the 09.

[Jeff Lange]

Maybe?

I honestly don't know how similar they are, or if it would work. Remember that the 09+ Corolla's have manual steering racks though, as opposed to the hydraulic-power steering units from previous years. That will likely mean some differences as far as the tie rods go. I can't say for sure though.

Jeff

[joeylgarcia]

Originally Posted by etho1416

According to both the dealer and the toyota tech TIS site (I got a 2 day subscription to see about repairing myself) you can't replace an inner tie rod on this car! You have to replace the entire steering sub-assembly. This seems insane. I checked and you could replace just the inner tie rod on the last generation corolla. The different in parts cost is huge, $70 versus $890! Plus lots more labor.

seems that is the only way to do it.

[etho1416]

It looks like I could have it remanfactured, which means it must be possible to fix the inner tie rod, but Toyota (and no others) sell the actual part. And the toyota tech site lists no instructions wahtsoever for replacing it.

The 2003-2008 corolla does allow you to change the inner tie rod. While I am guessing that the new electiric power steering system in my 09 means the rack and pinion is a bit different. I highly doubt that they need to make this part in such a way that can't replace it.

Just another example of Toyota engineering going down the toilet. Inner tie rods get bent fairly often when folks hit a curb, so it should be designed to be replaced.

Also, replacing the entire steering gear is a nightmare process! The tech site has you remove the entire sub-assembly (amongst other items) just to get at it.