Tie Rod Ends? My name is Tie Rod Tim in my offroading crowd!
Aside from a 240, I own a 95 2 door Tahoe lifted and dressed for nothing but a trail - i hate pavement
I've broken and Candy-caned these items and all i gotta say is grab them and twist them strongly... jack the vehicle up (only one wheel) and grab the 9 and 3 o'clock position of the wheel and act as though you were turning the steering. any play requires you to duplicate this action while looking under the chassis to SEE where the play is coming from... inner or outer
Also you can look at the top of the steering wheel (use white tape on the actual top portion of steering wheel, if it's too dark) while shaking side to side for any steering gear wear...

This whole "warranty" jargon is a farce in my book - plain and simple - quality (expensive) parts do not require a "warranty" cuz they KNOW their parts will meet the requirements - Cheap parts will impose a "slightly" higher charge in comparison to the base part cuz it is essentially the same base part only they guarantee to replace it with the exact part cuz they KNOW it will break under certain conditions... MOOG is only praised for their warranty - but I can testify that if you keep breaking one that store has records of your replacements and can refuse a new one (i'm on my 5th)

Just grease them and test their tightness and watch your steering response

Tim

IMHO the TRW's are worth spending the extra $6 for. I got sent a pair of aftermarket ball joints after ordering MOOG's and the quality was terrible.

I just did mine cause they where worn and I only paid less the $150 for inners, outer, and boots. I did a write up on it at Turbobricks: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=86947
As far as brand gose, I got oem replacement, the outers are Febi Bilstein and the inners where Lemforder. These are very good quilaty, if not top of the line.

Later,
Adam

When I buy tie rod ends I usually get either Moog or TRW brands. I have bought Moog which came with grease fitting and Moog which were sealed. I don't know which are better. I'd avoid Scantech.

I recently had a shop do some strut and tie rod work which I didn't feel like doing. Their supplier for the tie rod ends wanted $75 each! I said I'd bring my own in. I got Moog for $28 each. The shop was ok with this and said the Moog were just as good as what their supplier would have sent.

I've only changed tie rods on a 240 once so don't have much experience.
But you should have noticed SOMETHING if it got loose enough to come apart!
On earlier models things like driving over a 1" drop would result in a clank
and there would be a little bit of steering looseness (although proper toe-in
adjustment would make this less noticeable).
As another has posted, a periodic inspection is good. What you do is get
under the front of the car where you can see all the joints and have someone
turn the steering wheel back and forth at maybe once/second or faster,
far enough to be sure you remove all the slop. Listen first, then look,
and if it seems like everything is moving together, put your hand on each
joint as it moves to be SURE there is no relative motion (slop). If a joint
shows some looseness, then is the time to make plans to replace whatever component is faulty.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Heart of the USA!

Hi,

Without direct personal experience, I have read accounts here where aftermarket outer tie rod ends came ungreased, though I don't recall any particular brand name mentioned.

From actual personal experience, I did buy a 245 six years ago that the seller had taken to a shop to get a state inspection done. That shop replaced an outer tie rod end and left it entirely dry. Aside from that, I've had to replace the tie rods themselves (inners) more often than the ends for wear, on my fleet of 240s.
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.

I have found that the less expensive option is uaually as good as the more expensive one. the more expensive one has to pay royalties or something to the orrigional manufacture, etc.

ALSO PLEASE check those things more often. I usually like to give the cars all a good shave every month. Check: wheel beargs, tire rods, brakes, cv joints, tire pressure, fluids, etc. Think of it as an afternoon of insurance. Four hours once a month to check the fleet VS 4 years in traction for having a balljoint fail at 90mph!

God bless and have a happy new year!!!

Andrew