Inner tie rods -- regular replacement? What schedule/criteria?

[kcbrown]

Thanks to mentions of tie rod ball joint wear in a number of places, not the least of which is voodoo child 21's "End of an Era" thread (here: https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=12090.msg173874#msg173874), I'm beginning to think that these should be treated as items to be replaced on a schedule, based on miles, track days, or some combination.

With that in mind, and with the understanding that my car is essentially stock (Boss 302 springs and Koni Sport dampers) with street tires (Bridgestone RE-11s), the question then becomes: how often should I replace them? I get the impression that visual inspection and/or attempting to feel that part of the suspension out by hand just isn't enough to detect problems here, and I'd rather not wait until actual symptoms start to show themselves.

Thoughts? And are there additional suspension pieces that should also be treated in that manner?

 

[blacksheep-1]

remarkably, I have no answer, we go through those like water, it's almost as if they are sacrificial in order to save the rack. I'm saying every 3 track days, at least.

 

[kcbrown]

remarkably, I have no answer, we go through those like water, it's almost as if they are sacrificial in order to save the rack. I'm saying every 3 track days, at least.

That's nearly as often as brake pads get replaced! Is there really that much wear on the joints up front? This has me wondering why we don't see a lot more failures like Voodoo Child's.

Have you guys torn the old ones apart to see how much wear is on the joints when you replace them? Might be instructive.

It also occurs to me that perhaps the large "squishy" bushing that's on the stock lower control arm is absorbing a lot of the punishment that otherwise would make it to the ball joint at the inner tie rod. Dunno, but the rate at which you guys replace the inner tie rods has me wondering what's so different about your front suspension compared to stock that would warrant such an aggressive replacement schedule.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up. I'd love to get the feedback of anyone else here who replaces these parts on a regular or semi-regular basis, too.

 

[blacksheep-1]

It seems the outer joints are designed to fail first, thus saving everything else, we change them very often, but then we hammer curbs, run into other cars (especially Kias) and probably drive harder, on stickier tires than you would. That being said, we keep several built racks in the hauler for such occasions. You may find that is a more expedient way to go at the track. You get a front end shimmy or vibration, and you know it's not the outer joints, change the rack..not easy, I know but something to think about. Whenever you damage the outer joints you have to think that at least..I don't know...50-70% of that gets sent to the rack. We've cracked them before.