The sliding or spacer block is the connection between the rack gear and the inner tie rods.

Bushings should be snug against it, inner tie rods connected one at a time (never disconnect both at once its not fun!), make sure it is torqued correctly!

Not sure why it would be called the sliding block, the FSM calls it a "spacer block". Technically I suppose it does "slide" with the rack gear as you turn the steering wheel back and forth.

 

To add to what Dan said, below is a pretty nifty illustration I found on the www some time ago. Not sure where it originated from, but it may also help visualize (I just now copied it from post #4 of this thread: Inner tie rod question).

As explained in that post, I added the red and green arrows to the original illustration. As luck would have it, the spacer block is not labeled/numbered in that illustration, but the pair of arrows towards the left are pointing at the thru holes in the spacer block. (The pair of arrows towards the right of the illustration point to the threaded bolt holes in the rack rod - #14 in the illustration. When the rack is fully assembled, the two pairs of arrows are lined up with each other.)

As far as the other name for it, the sliding block, the spacer block is shaped like a 'T" in cross section, with the inner tie rods clamping to the top of the 'T', and the narrower lower part of the 'T' passing thru the slot in the rack housing (#3 in the illustration). and the base of the 'T' clamping to the rack rod (#14), so, in that sense, it slides left and right in the rack housing slot as the steering wheel is turned back and forth:

 

 

Thanks Bill, I was looking for an exploded view of the rack, couldn't find it!

 

YW, Dan. I found it one day by searching the internet under the "images" tab. It wasn't easy to spot as it was one image buried deep in several hundred that came up in whatever key word search I did (it also took just the right combination of key words too after several failed attempts). Not sure I could find it again if I had't downloaded it. Sometimes it pays to be OCD, but it can be a curse. 🤪

 

Those "retaining tabs" that are meant to be bent down over the bolt heads: I suppose those are a fail-safe feature? Meant to keep the bolts from working (unscrewing) their way loose over time if they happen to lose their proper snugness in the rack?

In 2018 I had the local dealership give my Concorde a maintenance go-over. Fix whatever needed it. (Meanwhile I went to a funeral in D.C.) They replaced the tie-rods in their entirety with Mopar rods and bushings.

BUT . . . whoever installed those new tie- rods neglected to bend down those tabs. Six years later (a couple of months ago) the left-side bolt worked its way free. Which started the current mess with my car.

That prompts a question: What if those retaining tabs had been properly bent down?
Wouldn't my Concorde now be living out the rest of its driveable life just fine with a loose-in-its-threads tie-rod bolt, its driver totally unaware?

(BTW, I made the unforseen error of removing both inner tie-rod bolts. However, re-aligning the sliding-block holes with the holes in the rack was a breeze with a Centech inspection camera, which I got from Harbor Freight.)

 

The primary purpose of the tabs isn't to keep a loose bolt from backing out further (though they would also accomplish that) - they prevent the bolt from loosening in the first place by not allowing the bolt head to rotate after being properly torqued.

Having said that, aftermarket, AND I believe OEM, inner tie rod bushing kits included bolts with significantly smaller heads than the original factory bolts. If the installer didn't realize that and therefore didn't take extra steps to lock the bolts in place, the tabs would not engage the sides of the hex shape of the smaller bolt head, allowing it to loosen and rotate completely out over time - a serious safety issue, as you found out.

For that reason, my advice on this forum has always been to re-use the factory-original bolts with the larger heads if you still had them, but if not, use blue thread locker on the bolt threads. You could also put an extra dog-leg bend in the tabs to engage the smaller bolt heads - accomplished by gripping the partially bent over pair of tabs between the jaws of channel-lock pliers and squeezing hard to force the tabs to bend completely parallel to and sit flat against opposite sides of the bolt hex head. Nothing wrong with using blue thread locker in combination with the original larger-head factory holts or with smaller-head holts and with the extra bend in the locking tabs.

 

Below is a sketch that pt500 posted (post #7: Inner tie rod question) illustrating what I described about forcing the tabs to conform tighly to the shape of the smaller-headed bolt head to engage the flat of the hex

With the original factory bolt with larger head, the tab effectively locks the bolt from loosening with the tabs bent in a simple (but fairly sharp) 90° bend (i.e., without additiinal distortion of the tab).

 

If I remember right, I did perform that channel-lock action on the tabs when I replaced my inner tie rod bushings a year or two ago with the OEM bushing kit (one of the last ones to exist). So far so good.