Bob said:
I have a '96 Eagle Vision TSI (LH same as Intrepid) with 57K miles that
needs some front end work. Can someone who has done these jobs let me know:
How difficult is it to replace the inner tie rod bushings? What is involved
and roughly how much time?
How difficult to replace a front wheel bearing?
Are the above common points of failure on the 1st generation LH body style?
I believe the tie rod bushings are indeed bad given the high amount of
torque steer that I experience upon acceleration and sloppy steering. But, I
am surprised that the wheel bearing is bad since I have not heard much about
this defect in this newsgroup for this type of vehicle.
Thanks in advance.
Bob
The left front wheel bearing went out on my '99 Concorde (2nd gen LH -
same chassis parts as 1st gen LH) - not a major failure - just started
making vibration/noise which I am very sensitive to. Mine went out at
about 67k miles IIRC. The process and degree of difficulty is identical
to every other FWD front wheel bearing replacement I have ever done on
my own vehicles - everything from a Subaru to a Cadillac - pretty
standard designs with minor variations.
Basically, unbolt and hang caliper, remove brake rotor, remove axle stub
nut (maybe loosen with someone holding the brake before removing the
caliper), remove hub-to-knuckle bolts (3), disengage lower control arm
ball joint from knuckle (remove keeper bolt first, ball joint stud comes
out easily because it's not even tapered), press axle out of bearing ID
with a proper puller, pry/knock hub out of knuckle (if you're careful to
coordinate the last two steps, you might even preclude having to
separate ball joint from knuckle). Reverse procedure to install.
Be careful not to damage CVJ boots. When putting ball joint stud keeper
bolt back in, be careful to vertically line the groove on the stud with
the bolt holes in the knuckle - bolt should slide in - do not force in
with a hammer (I learned that the hard when when I recently ruined the
knuckle by not following that advice).
The inner tie rod bushing are a fairly common failure item according to
what I read on various Chrysler forums, though mine are still original
with no play whatsoever at 100k miles. Someone mentioned in this ng
that if the outer tie rods are not oriented vertically before the lock
nuts are tightened when alignments are done, they can cause the inner
tie rod bushings to wear out - it is easy to see how that could be when
you look at the steering system, and I wonder how many of the failures
that I read about are due to that oversight on the part of the
technicians.
Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")
