89 LX 5.0 AOD

[damon23]

Thank you. I really is not a bad car. It is not perfect but it is 25 years old. It was driven daily and then parked for 3 years. After running it today it really needs brakes. The rotors shimmy when they get warmed up and I feel they could be better. I figured the car would get 5 lug swapped anyway. And the other thing is I think the steering rack needs to be replaced. It turns good and everything but on the passenger side the wheel has movement in and out and it is not the tie rod unless the tie rod goes into the rack thru the boot but I think the tie rod goes to the threaded part of the rack. Ball joints are solid. I've pulled the smog pump out and cleaned all the valves and pulled the mesh out from under the pcv valve. That was a chore and that thing was completely clogged. I had to unroll it and clean it with throttle body cleaner, rolled it back up after I cleaned the housing and installed a new PCV. Who's idea was that to put that thing in there and to put the PCV where it is a PITA to get to it. Anyway, the title is in my hands ready to go.

[Notch50]

Sounds like your inner tie rod is bad on the passenger side. There is a inner and outer tie rod, the inner threads onto the rack. It's not hard to replace, you will probably want to get a alignment after it's replaced.

[damon23]

Thanks. It's only $25 so I'll fix it and update the ad. Interesting how a threaded rod like that breaks.

[Notch50]

Its not really a just a threaded rod, the end that attaches to the rack is a ball socket. It's kinda like your hip or shoulder sockets. I have attached a photo of it.

[FlyinTiger]

Originally Posted by damon23

Thanks. It's only $25 so I'll fix it and update the ad. Interesting how a threaded rod like that breaks.

The threaded rods do break. It had one break on my '93 vert, years ago, 30 miles from home. Made some knocking sounds, as the 2 ends hit, but made it home.

[damon23]

Here are a few other shots if anyone is interested.

[MOstang]

That's a cool car to me...I like the exterior color and interior, for some reason, as it's a bit differen't than what you usually see. GLWS!

[damon23]

Tie rod end fixed and boy did that make a difference. It is lined up and ready to go. It's a nice day so I'm going to use it for errand running this afternoon.

[MOstang]

Congratulations...cool car.