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Bad Inner Tie Rod Bushings

6K views 33 replies 9 participants last post by  EagleESI 
#1 ·
Hi, all. First posting for me.

I have a 1996 Chrysler Concorde in need of either new inner tie rods, or inner tie rod bushings.

I have spent much time on Google, YouTube, etc., looking for ways to gain access to the retaining bolts, but the information I have seen so far hasn't helped much. Some have suggested removing the cowling underneath the wiper arms, and even the wiper motor itself, but I see little room to be gained by removing the cowling since it is attached to a protruding part of the firewall. Not sure about the wiper motor just yet.

This car has the big 3.5 engine (LXi model), and I need to remove the plastic air intake tubing behind the aluminum intake plenum before I can even get to the retaining bolts.

How can I get this (tubing) out? Will I have to remove a wiring junction box attached to the passenger side strut area first?

Be glad to post some pictures if need be.

Thanks!
 
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#2 ·
You have to junk the whole car.

Just kidding. I know on the 2nd gen, which is the same rack, you do have to remove the cowling. Never messed with 1st gens. - someone familiar with them should be along shortly to answer.

:idontknow: - I just wanted to get my "junk the whole car" joke in. :)
 
#32 ·
As you can see below, the wiring junction box is in close proximity to the air intake tubing...

View attachment 32409

Here is a shot of the tubing itself...

View attachment 32417

Has anyone ever owned a 1996 era Concorde LXi model, and what procedure did it take to gain access to the inner tie rod bolts?
I have a 2001 LHS, and on this one you have to remove the cowling under the wipers and the air cleaner housing/tube assembly and the piece under the cowling that is under the wipers... Its pretty straight forward... Then you can at least see the inner tie rod ends.. the rest can be tricky... Best to have another set of hands to hold one side together while you get the other side started.
 
#8 ·
Many thanks, Scooter!

I saw some informative links and photos to pore over, but I haven't seen anything pertaining to removing my air intake tubing yet. I can loosen it from the plenum, but removing the tubing altogether seems almost impossible without removing that wiring junction I referred to.

I see no benefit by removing the cowling.
 
#9 ·
Try seeing if swinging the wheel all the way to one side or the other will give you an easier access point. On the 3.3 it is not that hard by just removing the coil pack and swinging the wheel to the left. On the 3.5 I don't know how you would go about it, less room for sure.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I did some searching in the 1994 LH FSM. Should be very similar to a 1996 if not the same. Chapter 19 is the only one that appears to outline getting to the steering rack and the inner tie rods. If you want I can host that chapter and link to it for you. It's in PDF format.

Browsing through it it indicates you do have to take the wiper arms off along with the cowl and the wiper assembly to get down there. Let me know if you want me to host it for you.
 
#13 ·
Still doesn't say anything about how to remove the plastic air intake plenum. I'm assuming I'll need to remove the junction box in spite of it all (looks like it has been removed before judging by one of the missing plastic fasteners).

I can loosen the plastic plenum from the metal air intake ports, but there is not enough of clearance to remove the plastic plenum itself.
 
#14 ·
It shows the air intake tubing being removed in figure 4 of that section I linked to. It's on page 20. The step just before that is removing the "Cowl Closure Panel" by taking out six screws. That panel is shown in both of your pictures over the intake tubing. It looks like if you remove the cowl closure panel you'll have room to get the intake tubing off. You'll need to remove both wiper arms first to get the cowl panel off.

(6) Remove both wiper arm assemblies from wiper
arm pivots.

(7) Remove the 6 screws attaching cowl closure
panel to cowl. Remove the cowl closure panel and
weatherstrip as an assembly from the cowl (Fig. 3).

(8) Disconnect air plenum from throttle bodies,
PCV make up air tube and idle air control motor.
Remove plenum from the right side of the vehicle
 
#15 ·
I had a 3.3 so I'm not 100% positive with the 3.5, but there should be 2 clamps (1 per throttle body), then take it of the air box, and it should come out. I would also suggest you to remove the cowl, and whole wiper assembly to gain easier access to the tie rods. Also get the 2 piece Moog bushings they last longer and are a lot easier to install.
 
#16 ·
On a 2nd gen (1998-2004) it's impossible to change the bushings without removing the wipers and wiper cowl. I'm betting it's more so on 1st gens (1993-1997) with the addition of having to remove the wiper motor/Linkage.

With a 1st gen with the 3.3 it's similar to the 2nd gen with the centralized throttle body location.
 
#19 ·
The drivers side of the upper firewall is the wiper assembly it can be removed. I also almost forgot only do one at a time there is a spacer inside the tube on the rack. if you remove both tie rods there is a chance that that spacer will move and it is next to impossible to get back lined up.
 
#18 ·
Fig 4 on page 19-20 shows a 3.5L air tube being removed. Did you read through the whole process in that PDF? The Wiper Assembly is the metal plate you're talking about.
 
#21 ·
Thanks. I studied the pages more than once, but sometimes it's hard to relate a diagram to the real thing without getting your hands dirty. A mechanic next door said he has replaced these without removing the items mentioned, but I am wondering if he has ever tackled inner tie-rod ends on a 3.5 engine.

I was also worried about breaking any plastic fasteners.
 
#24 ·
All you have to do is: take the plastic covers off the wiper arm where it connects to control arm by using a screw driver and flick the round rubber cover that's over nut that holds the blade on. Remove the wipers.Then remove the screws that hold the cowl I think it's like five or six of them. Then disconnect the metal cowl by removing the four bolts two long and two short one this cowl is bolted right to the strut towers Once that's removed you'll see the wiper motor without removing that if you look down your firewall you should see the steering linkage and on front of that's the inner tie rod linkage bend the tabs back and loosen the nuts be careful not to pull out anything but the rod from the stud replace the rubber grommet bolt on bend tangs back ones done now do the other and you're done easy peasy !!!! Good Luck
 
#28 · (Edited)
Fixed!

At least it should be, but it took me at least five hours to finish the job, and I still haven't replaced the wiper box and cowling yet. I could have finished the whole thing in one day, but it was getting dark. Finishing up tomorrow will give me a chance to vacuum loose debris out of the cracks and crevices - plus I'll clean up the cowling and hit it with some Meguiars trim dressing. I'll probably wash the car too, and get it ready for a fall buffing.

For what it's worth, I used a Moog bushing kit (blue rubber) which included replacement hardware with new bolts with a 5/8" head instead of reusing the 22mm originals. The biggest obstacle was finding a low profile 22mm socket because there is not much room between the motor and the bolt heads. Removing the tires allowed me to finish unscrewing the bolts by hand. The left bushing was shot, and the right bushing was completely gone. A nearby garage loaned me all the special service tools I needed - including a torque wrench, but I forgot to ask for an adapter, so I torqued the bolts with a long 3/8" drive Mac ratchet by feeling instead (I hope this is OK).

The steering is good and tight now, but the toe-in feels off.

I can't thank all of you enough for assisting me with advice and encouragement. I was apprehensive about tackling this job, but all has went well so far. I did damage a plastic cowling rivet, so I'll be looking for a replacement.
 
#29 ·
I did damage a plastic cowling rivet, so I'll be looking for a replacement.

The dang thing jumped out of its socket after I had trouble securing the passenger side of the cowling, and now it is lodged deep in the rocker panel.

Is this a dealer-only item, or can I find it on ebay, etc.? I could stand to buy a whole pack of those things. You know, the ones that look like a phillips screw.
 
#31 · (Edited)
I had planned to reuse the 22mm bolts, but I asked a local mechanic, and said that he would go with the ones in the kit, so I obliged. Another reason I decided to use the 5/8" bolts is because a smaller socket has more room to work with.

As for the bolt(s) coming out, a friend of ours has a '94 Concorde, and that very thing happened to her. Only in her case, the tabs were not bent down at all. Fortunately, the left bolt slipped out right in my driveway instead of on the highway. The same local mechanic put a new kit in for her.

I bent those tabs as well as I could, but I did notice they were not flush with the sides of the bolt heads, and were angled a bit. There is so little room to work with on a 3.5 engine, and it made for difficult working conditions. I have bruises and scratches still healing. I guess I should have read the link more thoroughly and applied the blue thread compound. I will certainly keep an eye on these bolts in case one or both decides to back out. I kept the original bolts, plates, and washers for backups.

Thanks for posting.
 
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