Inner Tie Rod 1986 Ford Bronco

Back to working on one of my babies, my truck. My 1986 Bronco started to get a little swervey on the road. My mom’s boyfriend swore the ball joints were shot. I picked up the lower set, about 10 bucks a piece. After inspection the ball joints were not that bad. They aren’t new, but they aren’t loose. The out wheel bearings have a little play. The u joints at the wheel are shot. Really shot. But I don’t run 4x4 too much so they can wait.



The tie rod ends are soft, not wobbly yet, so they have a while. The inner tie rod on the driver side was the issue. I could grab the inner tie rod and shake it about a half inch. So I took the ball joints back and got a inner tie rod, for about the same price. I should have did the tie rod, the sleeve is fine though.
But being on a tight budget I can only do so much at once. So I changed the inner tie rod, which AutoZone calls the draglink, though I’ve never heard the inner tie rod on the driver side called draglink, that is usually the passenger side on the fords, hooks to the pitman arm.





I changed it out, took off the tie rod, then the inner tie rod. The inner tie rod was really in there I was gentle with the hammer to not damage the side. But it came out. I greased everything, took the tie rod and greased it, greased the boot, and greased the new end, even though it was greaseless. I greased the other side tie rod, and inner end on the passenger too. I used marine grease, all purpose. I choose it over regular front in grease, because the front end of the truck sees a lot of water. A lot of water.



But it didn’t take too long, worse thing was getting those stupid aluminum wheels back on. The outcome? The truck handles much tighter, not as wobbly. It still is a two hander, with the tire treads is has some wander at slower speeds, but not bad.
A tip for this blog, measure your old tie rod before you take it out the sleeve. Measure from the sleeve to the end of the inner tie rod, measure the new one and wrap tape at the length, so when you thread the new tie rod in you get the same length. Too long or two short and your alignment will be screwed.