Tie rod warn?

[madsav]

Ok vt ss 2000 model, how do I tell if tie rod ends are warn? Ihad a look at the rubber boot on them and they have slight age old cracks, is there any other way to tell when they are warn

[VR38]

Have an assistant turn the steering wheel from side to side while you look at them checking for any play in their movement.

FWIW they are cheap and piss easy to change if you are handy with tools.

[madsav]

Cheers mate, only thing that i have noticed is while the car is sitting still , if i move the steering wheel left and right about 2 inches i can hear a knock assuming its a tie rod end problem since i just replaced the Sway bar link pins with the S shaped ones

[EDGE3]

where can you hear the knock sound

[VR38]

Knock could be loose rack or inner tie rod (inside the rack).

[EDGE3]

You can tighten the tie rod ends and see if that makes a difference

[madsav]

i can only hear the knock on the passengerside of the car front, just brought a set of tie rod ends gonna fit them up in about an hour to see if that fix`s the problem. i also checked the rack bolts
that goto the Crossmember and them seem tight
But if all else fails ill replace everything till problem is fixed lol

[VR38]

Just make sure you screw the new ones on the same distance as the old ones to keep the toe adjustment correct.