Track Rod End Bushes

[venetian-red]

Advice (again!) please; I have some track rod end bushes on the passenger side which are shot; some fairly robust clonking now from that side. Potholes and speedbumnps have done the damage here!!

As I have never done these before, is this a DIY job or one for the garage? If anyone could give me some guidance /advice/tricks of the trade/potential pitfalls I would, as always, be most grateful. Thanks.

[zollaf]

no such thing as track rod bushes . do you mean track rod ends or are you on about the track control arms aka wishbones.

[venetian-red]

Track rod ends I believe the issue to be; looking at them there are rubber bushes which have completely split. Would that make sense as to what I am looking at?

[zollaf]

nooooh, track rod ends are the swivelly bits on the arms sticking out of the steering rack that connect to the front hubs and there is 1 each side. they have rubber boots to protect them and these do split. then there are 8 arms, 4 each side, 2 top, 2 bottom, these connect the front hubs to the chassis of the car. these have ball joints at the hub end and bushes at the chassis end. these can fail at either end. then there are 2 anti roll bar links each side, a c shape from a bottom arm to the arb. these fail. a febi kit can be bought that contains the whole lot and all the bolts you need to rebuild it. a few quid but your car will clonk no more.

[venetian-red]

Cheers; I will have a good look in the light tomorrow again; whichever bush it turns out to be, is this an easy DIY job? Do the bushes need 'pressing' in; is it a things need belting with a lump hammer within an inch of their lives type of job?

[Doctle Odd]

Actually you just throw them away. You'll need a torque wrench, a ruler and a protractor to change them. It's not too difficult

[passat 130 tdi]

the stock track rod ends bar itself is encased in a rubber lining which comes away, cheap copies are renound for it making the steering wheel move before the wheels do , this im thinking is what you mean , I bought meyle heavy duty as replacements , they are an all steel construction and a bigger ball joint , if its the suspension arms that's shot , you'd be better off changing the whole arm .

[venetian-red]

IMG_20131222_095054.jpg

Isn't it better looking at things in the light!!! If any of you are familiar with the 'Fugitive' with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, there is a part where TLJ says to the Sheriff "do you want to change your bullsh*t story".....well this is a similar situation, lol. It looks to me rather like the ARB bush has gone South. They say a picture paints a thousand words, so I have shown it above. It is the top one at the front of the photo (feel free to admire my handywork on the CV boot!). Whats the deal with changing these please (now that I have got the right bush!. Thanks for your patience.....us amateurs must keep you guys amused for hours!

[passat 130 tdi]

IMG_20131222_095054.jpg

isn't it better looking at things in the light!!! If any of you are familiar with the 'fugitive' with harrison ford and tommy lee jones, there is a part where tlj says to the sheriff "do you want to change your bullsh*t story".....well this is a similar situation, lol. It looks to me rather like the arb bush has gone south. They say a picture paints a thousand words, so i have shown it above. It is the top one at the front of the photo (feel free to admire my handywork on the cv boot!). Whats the deal with changing these please (now that i have got the right bush!. Thanks for your patience.....us amateurs must keep you guys amused for hours!

thats just the c clamp tie rod , £ 10 each, THEY ARE SIDED ,SO BUY CORRECT SIDE , the anti roll bar bushes sit in a u shaped clamp 3/4 along the anti roll bar itself . £ 8 a pair on ebay

[Doctle Odd]

Change the C links in pairs and do it with both wheels off the ground. You could get these as well 10X UNIVERSAL STAINLESS STEEL CLAMP CLIP SET FOR DRIVESHAFT CV JOINT BOOT KIT | eBay change them when you have her raised. Cable ties don't do it