steering Connecting Rods
 

My connecting rods are making a clunking sounds and are very loose. What are the steps to replacing these? My Chilton's doesn't go into much detail except to say that you need to check alignment after replacing them.

Thanks,

I sure hope you meant to say tie-rods.

Must be tie rods.

To replace, buy new ones. After loosening the two bolts that keep the sleeve tight.

Remove cotter pins and castle nuts.

Use fork for seperation.

Then unscrew them, counting the turns.

Replace with new tie rod end [either inner or outer] counting the turn so that they are roughly in the same place that the old ones were.

Tighten castle nuts and install cotter pins

DON'T SKIP COTTER PINS, YOU HAVE TO INSTALL THEM.

Get the car aligned

Thanks Gearhead, that's what I needed to know. And yes, I did mean tie rods. Chilton's refers to them as connecting rods, same thing.

Actually, no, they are completely different things. A connecting rod is the piece that goes between the piston and the crank. Very specific. Chiltons must have had a typo. I can't imagine them doing something like that intentionally. Tie rod is a very specific term as well.

Just FYI

Take care,
-Chris

They actually refered to them as 'steering connecting rods' as I did in this post. But, your point is well taken.