Inner Tie Rod Ends

[stockblue95mtx]

My 95 MTX shakes during braking and I think it needs inner tie rod ends. It has 135K on it and these have never been replaced. Outer are OK. Got it on the lift and removed the outer tie rod end but cannot detect any looseness (by hand) in the inner joints at all. Should this be noticeable? In addition, since steering units appear to be relatively cheap can these be replaced without dropping the subframe (0n a lift) vs. changing the inner tie rod ends?
Thanks in advance,
stockbue95mtx

 

[projectSHO89]

Changing the rack involves lowering the subframe a bit.

If there is no play in the inner tie rod joint, they aren't the cause of your shaking.

If shaking occurs only during braking, your brake rotors are warped.

Steve

 

[Kens1992mtxSHO]

X2 on the warped rotors. The front rotors warp very easily on these cars.

 

[stockblue95mtx]

Thanks to both who replied for your help. I'll try the rotors & post a follow up. As for the inner tie rods, how long should they last?
stockblue95mtx

 

[Kens1992mtxSHO]

They can last quite a long time. I'm not sure there's a set lifespan for them. You'll know when one goes bad. I had a bad one and the car pulled dangerously to the right or left under heavy acceleration.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

"Cheap" front rotors warp very easily on these cars, especially if the lug nuts are not torqued properly.

In addition to the front-end shaking, you should be getting feedback (ie. shaking) through both the brake pedal and steering wheel. The amount/severity of feedback is a function of how badly warped the rotor/rotors is/are.

X2 on the warped rotors. The front rotors warp very easily on these cars.

 

[shonuffmine]

hey guys on my 90 mtx my right front shook bad ,especialy when braking from over a hundred,thought it was a crapped rotor too, but noticed i didn,t have any vibration or moduation in the brake pedal. i got home n jacked it up.had a bunch of slop from 9-3 so looked further n it was my inner tie rod was shot out,solved the problem of where that hard clunk was coming from n was easy to fix by the way the car had only 100 thousand miles on it

 

[stockblue95mtx]

Finally got new rotors on last week (original Ford '95 rotors from EBAY
seller) & as you all predicted the shake is gone. In addition added new RH halfshaft & wheel bearing. Thanks again for your help.
stockblue95mtx

 

[Danz13]

Make sure you torque your wheels to the correct specs!