tie rods tidy

[DonaldSmith]

A previous replacement of tie rod dust covers was showing its age, with a poor fit to boot.  So I ordered poly dust guards with their depths and diameters to suit the ball joint ends.

 

But I had to address the problem where the pitman arm crunches the grease fitting on the tie rod end.

 

 

Looking up and forward.  The pitman arm has solid bushings that I cobbled, instead of the resilient bushings which were prone to failure.  In a right turn, the pitman arm swings to the left, pulling the right tie rod end against it and damaging the grease fitting.  Red grease is oozing from the spot.  So, I wondered why the grease fittings are at the top of the ends.  Did I do that in some past repair?  I replaced the damaged fitting, installed the new dust covers, and flipped each tie rod end for end.  Slick. 

[Cannuck]

I am no mechanic  but I would flip the tie rod ends back to there original positions to see if that solved your problem. 

Like I said i am no mechanic but why did you flip them to begin with?

 

[DonaldSmith]

How the tie rods got installed with the grease fittings up is a mystery.  My shop manual shows nothing but a picture of a typical ball joint end being popped loose.  But tie rods flipped, problem solved. 

[Sniper]

the parts manual usually has a better picture of how it goes together than the FSM, but that's not to say it'll have the picture you need.