I doubt I'm the first to do it, but I bent a tierod on my 98 Amigo with the rack & pinion steering. After searching, I found plenty on the 2nd gen racks failing, but nothing on the tierods being bent or replaced. So after bringing the Amigo home on a trailer, I scrounged up a junkyard rack & pinion assembly for $100.

As it turns out, replacing a tierod on one of these is quite easy, and can actaully be done with the rack & pinion in the vehicle. It does help to undo the front sway bar and move it out of the way. Removeing the front shock would be helpful too, but mine didn't want to unbolt, so the shock stayed.

Remove the ball joint at the knuckle. Remove the the boot on the inboard end of the tierod, and expose the inboard end. flatten out the two sides of the washer that are bent over on the end of the tierod. Unscrew the end of the tie rod, and its off. On mine the old tierod was only hand tight, the replacement off the junkyard rack was slightly tighter and I used a slip joint pliers to remve it, but it still wasn't very tight.

Installation is just as easy, screw the new one on, bend over the tabs. Slide the boot on and put a new hose clamp on. Reinstall the ball joint on the knuckle, tighten everything down, and get an alignment.


The washer is at the end of the screwdriver, the part that unscrews is under the end of the screwdriver, with the flat spots on it. The spring won't fly off either.


The bent part and the replacement.

Simple and easy, less than 1/2 hour fix if you have the tools and parts...especially once you've done one <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Hopefully this doesn't become a frequent occurence <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

-Mike W

Thanks for the tip. and congrats on the rare but cheap breakage <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/nana.gif" alt="" />

Good tech <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Also if you need to replace the tie-rod assemblies they are both right hand thread and carry the same part number,so only one trail spare will be needed(hopefully) <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

yep, they're both a standard thread (right hand ). They also appear to be the same length left and right, and I can't imagine hwy they wouldn't be. Like wise the dealer never asked if it was for the left or right when I called to inquire about new tie rods. They want about $200 each for them <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/zombie.gif" alt="" /> I can get 4 for that price, plus 2 spare racks <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

EDIT: Same part number ties in with not asking which side...me thinks me should read more carefully <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" />

-Mike