ECS is too expensive, you have others in mind that have affordable expedited shipping?

 

I take that getting a genuine Audi part is a must in this case? There are plenty of places that sell significantly cheaper brands of inner tie rods.

 

Avoid Audi and avoid TRW. I got Moog tie rods, inner and outer, personally. Advance Auto carries them. They're easy to change, really. I used channel locks and a pair of vice grips (clamped onto the channel locks to lengthen the handle) to remove and tighten them. Used Lock-tite on the inner tie rod and anti-seize on the outers. Have some decent zip ties for the steering rack boots. Long ones for the inner part of the boot. Get them as tight as possible. To get working room, turn the steering wheel in the direction opposite of the wheel you want to work on as far as it'll go.

 

Just ordered the parts (Meyle brand) from Blauparts. Total cost was less about 1/3 of what the dealership was asking. Not OEM or Moog, but I've heard good things about Meyle, plus thats the brand of my TRE's.

The dealership also wanted $199.40 for both power steering hoses, ha! I think I'm going to do the power steering cooler DIY along with replacing the cracked hoses in the process. Universal power steering hose should be fine as long as it's the same size, thickness, and fitment, right?

 

Maybe. On my 300ZX the low-pressure line could be replaced with universal hose but the high-pressure hose needed to be an OEM or equivalent pressure-rated piece. I'd double-check that before assuming it to be so - you don't want to have to redo it if the universal line can't handle the high-pressure side of the system.

 

I figured both the feed and return lines for the PS cooler were low pressure because they are both secured to the cooler using ordinary hose clamps. That and the DIY suggests using the lines included with the aftermarket cooler.

 

Ok yeah, I misinterpreted what you meant. Both lines for the cooler are low-pressure so you should be fine.

 

Ok cool. Thanks!

 

Today I started working on the right tie rod. I got to the point where I need to unscrew the inner tie rod from the rack. I tried PB Blaster, channel locks, vise grips, but nothing seems to be able to break that thing loose. I even managed to pull a muscle in my neck trying to exert some superhuman force on the damn thing. Now it looks like I'll need to get someone else to take a crack at it once I figure out the best way to do it. Maybe I just need more leverage. I'll probably buy a new wrench, looks like it'll be about 1 1/2". The whole inner tie rod should just unscrew from the rack via the large hex-shaped thing, right? Please let me know if I'm doing something wrong so I don't end up breaking something other than myself, lol. I'll go ahead and measure out the P/S lines while I'm at it so I can buy those too.

 

so are you doing the inner tie rod or outer tie rod?

inner tie rod


outer tie rod


i have no idea how to do the inner tie rod. the outer tie rod how ever you loosen the nut and then unscrew the outer tie rod from the inner tie rod. to get more room, put the tie rod back on and turn the wheel in the direction of the side you're working on. i believe you can put a wrench on the nut that's on the tie rod and turn. jack the car up higher to you can put a pipe on the box end of the wrench. a black gas pipe would work better in your case.