Nope. Those are the last two alignment adjustments. What you can sometimes get away with, assuming you're starting with a straight steering wheel, is just replace one tie rod end, then drive it and see where the steering wheel is. If the wheel is off to the left, for example, you must readjust that new tie rod to turn the wheel to the left. Do that repeatedly until the steering wheel is straight again, then replace the second tie rod and do the same thing.
As a rule of thumb, the '95 and older models take 27 turns when you thread the new outer tie rod on, but I replaced the first worn part on my '88 Grand Caravan two years ago at 203,000 miles. Of course 27 turns didn't work out, but that's what I found on a lot of vehicles when I was the alignment specialist at he dealership.
That trick will not work when you replace any two tie rods at the same time. The steering wheel could be straight but both wheels could be too close together on the front (toe in) or on the rear (toe out). That will result in edge wear on both tires.
If the inner tie rods are worn, you will feel the same clunking when you grab the tire on the front and back and try to turn it left and right rapidly. You can not buy original parts from the dealer. You must buy inner tie rod ends from the auto parts stores.
caradiodoc
Nov 29, 2010 at 3:22 AM
