This episode is about a 2012 Jeep Wrangler. The shop found that parts that help control wheel alignment—called tie rods—had gotten loose, which can make steering feel sloppy and unsafe.
Tie rod replacement is when the shop replaces the steering linkage parts that keep the wheels pointed the right way. If they get loose, the steering can feel off, and if they get too loose they can even fail.
Tie rod ends are the small joints at the ends of the tie rods that help steer the wheels. When they wear out, they can get loose and make steering feel inaccurate.
Steering wander means the car doesn’t track straight and you have to keep correcting it. Worn tie rods can cause that because the steering linkage has looseness.
A dust boot is a rubber cover that protects the tie rod joint. It helps keep grease in and keeps dirt and water out so the steering joint doesn’t wear out quickly.
Steering linkage is the mechanical “plumbing” that moves your steering input to the wheels. It’s made of rods and joints that work together to point the tires where you want.
The drag link is a steering bar that connects the steering box to the steering knuckle. If it’s worn, steering can feel loose and you may notice movement when you check the linkage.
The steering knuckle is the part that holds the wheel and turns it. Steering linkages connect to it, so if the joint is loose, the steering can feel off or make noise.
The steering box is the mechanism that turns what you do with the steering wheel into movement that actually turns the wheels. If the parts connected to it wear, steering can feel loose.
Ball joints are joints that let the suspension move while keeping the wheels positioned correctly. When they wear out, they can cause clunks or looseness that feels similar to worn steering parts.
Control arm bushings are soft mounts that help the suspension move smoothly. If they wear out, the suspension can develop looseness and make noises over bumps.
A sway bar helps keep the car from leaning too much when you turn. If its parts are worn, it can make clunking noises, but it mostly fine-tunes how the suspension feels rather than fixing steering linkage play.
Wheel alignment is adjusting the angles of your wheels so the tires sit correctly on the road. After steering parts are replaced, alignment helps the car track straight and steer accurately.
An alignment machine is the shop’s tool for measuring wheel angles precisely. It’s far more accurate than trying to align the wheels with a tape measure and guesswork.
Tape measure alignment is the DIY way of trying to set wheel angles by measuring. The problem is it’s usually not accurate enough, so your tires and steering can suffer.
Term
excess friction
If your alignment is off, the tires can drag slightly as they roll. That extra drag makes tires wear faster and can also use more fuel.
LIVE
Hi, it's Mark Bossard. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, Vancouver's
best auto service experience. We're talking cars. How are you doing, Bernie?
Doing very well. So today's guest is a 2012 Jeep Wrangler. What was going on with this vehicle?
So this vehicle as a regular client of ours came in for a B service, which is an oil and
change along with a full vehicle inspection, which you should do every second service on any
vehicle. This is a 2012, so it's getting older. Yeah, so we did that. I found a few issues and the
issue we're featuring in this one was tie rod replacement. All the tie rod ends were loose.
They had excess play, so that'll cause your steering to wander around and not feel tight.
So it's a part of the suspension system basically that ties the wheels together. Is that
why it's called tie rods? Exactly. It's actually more classified as part of the steering system,
but it is down there with the steering suspension. Sometimes it all seems like the same part of the
vehicle because it is in that area. I would add too, and tie rods get really loose. They become
unsafe. These were getting to that point, but not quite. But once there's enough play in them to
replace them, especially if it's successive, it can actually break. If you've ever seen a car where
one wheel is pointing right, the other wheel is pointing left, that's a broken tie rod.
Not a very good experience. Never had it happen. Never wanted to feel it. It would be horrible.
Let's go to some pictures. Here's our guest. Looks really good shape for 2012.
Yeah. I had to look back at the year ago. I was actually at 2012. It's in fantastic shape.
There's a couple of dings on the other side of the vehicle, but it's acceptable. Happens.
So this is the tie rod end. Yeah. So we're looking at the tie rod. That little blue thing is basically
a dust boot or grease boot. These are greaseable tie rod ends. So every time you get a service
done, you should see if there's grease in there and have a little bit of fresh grease pumped into it.
And the tie rod ends. So you can buy them individual parts and pieces or complete assemblies.
There's actually four ends on this particular vehicle. Some vehicles have more bits and pieces.
The steering linkage on these vehicles is fairly simple. So there's four tie rods, and there's
a full look. So that's the main tie rod that goes from wheel to wheel. And then above that,
there's another rod that you can see. You can see the grease nipple, if you point to that,
at the bottom there. That's called the drag link. And that connects from the steering box
to the right steering knuckle. So that's where the movement of your steering wheel goes to the right
first and then to the left. But of course, when all the tie rod ends are tight, everything moves
absolutely uniformly without play. How do you diagnose that these are worn out?
A couple of ways. One is when you're in the vehicle and you have the wheels on the ground,
you look underneath and you twitch the steering wheel back and forth. This is how we would
diagnose it. You move the steering wheel back and forth fairly rapidly. There's a certain motion,
and you can see if there's any movement, like up and down movement in the tie rod end. So again,
the tie rod end, I think we pointed that out in the first picture. If there's any movement,
any of those that's bad, definitely needs to be replaced. The other way you can check too is with
large channel lock pliers, and you can squeeze them while they're on the vehicle. And it's okay
to have a tiny bit of movement, but anything over a certain amount is excessive. Again,
we squish them, and if there's enough movement, then we consider them to be worn out.
When you're driving your car, which is like, of course, I was thinking when you're asking that,
the only way you'd know if it's worn is if your steering is really wandering, you hit a bump and
the vehicle lurches to one side or other, it could be tie rod ends. If there's clunks when
you move the wheels or if you hit bumps, that could be tie rod ends too. But again, these are
things where if you're feeling something, have it inspected, and then we can find out because
there are many things, ball joints, control arm bushings, various items that can cause those
movements. Different linkages, obviously. That what you're pointing at is that's a sway bar.
Those can cause a lot of clunks, and those kind of affect overall stability of the vehicle. But
if you actually remove the sway bar from a vehicle, it doesn't have an enormous effect.
It's just fine tunes the suspension and keeps the vehicle from rocking around a lot. But
it's an important component to replace when it's worn out, but it's not critical like a tie rod
end where if it breaks, if the sway bar end link breaks, there's not really a huge safety concern
unless it breaks in a way that it pokes through a tire. That one's a long ways from the tires.
So after everything was replaced, how was the vehicle for ride and accuracy of steering?
Very good. We do a wheel alignment on the vehicle as well, because that's critical,
because all of those, if you saw those threaded ends, those all affect the alignment of the
vehicle. So you can adjust what's called toe in where the tires are either pointed towards
each other or away from each other. So you adjust that plus the center of the steering wheel. So
there's quite a few adjustments that need to be done, and you really can't do it without an alignment
machine. You could use a tape measure and a lot of trial and error, but it's a lot easier with
an alignment machine. And it's very accurate that way, whereas a tape measure alignment is not accurate.
And wheel alignment allows longer tire life, more accurate steering. Your car isn't wandering so much.
Yeah, longer tire life, more accurate steering, better fuel mileage too, because if your tires
are pointed in such a way that they're causing excess friction, not only are you wearing out
your tires, but using too much fuel to force the vehicle to move. So when your alignment's really
out, you can feel it's not very comfortable. There you go. If you're looking for service
for your Jeep in Vancouver, the guys to see are Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them online at
pawlikautomotive.com. You can book your appointment right there, or you can call them at 604-327-7112
to book your appointment. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive
in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Thanks so much for watching and listening. Thanks, Bernie.
Thank you, Mark. Thanks for watching.
About this episode
A 2012 Jeep Wrangler came in with steering play because the tie rod ends had loosened. The hosts explain how to spot worn tie rod ends by checking for movement at the joint and using simple tools to squeeze the linkage while it’s on the vehicle. They also note that clunks and wandering can be caused by other suspension parts. After replacement, wheel alignment is critical—especially toe settings—to keep steering accurate, tires lasting longer, and fuel use down.
