Control arms and tie rods

Tiny
JOE72MONTY
  • MEMBER
  • 2009 GMC SIERRA
  • 8.0L
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 145,000 MILES
I just installed new upper control arms and inner and outer tie rods on my truck listed above (1500).
I screwed the outer tie rod all the way on to the inner tie rod on both sides and my tires are pointing out.
How would I get the tires to point straight enough to get it to a shop so that they can perform a front end alignment?
Saturday, February 10th, 2018 AT 11:29 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,874 POSTS
The connection between the inner and outer tie rod ends is the "toe" adjustment that sets the direction the wheels are steering when the steering wheel is straight ahead. The old ones were not screwed together as far as they could go. You need to turn the steering wheel fully to the left, then count the number of turns to turn it fully to the right, then bring it back exactly half way. From there, center the steering wheel and lock it there. Now unscrew each pair of tie rod ends until that wheel is as near to straight ahead as you can get by eye.

The more common mistake is when replacing control arms, you probably had the truck jacked up with the suspension hanging down, and you tightened the pivot bolts that way. That is where the rubber bushings will be clamped, then when you lower it to the ground, and the control arms move up to their normal at-rest positions, those bushings will be clamped in a permanent twist. That will tear them apart when the truck bounces down the road and will greatly shorten their life. The proper procedure is to leave the pivot bolts loose, bounce the truck with the tires on the ground, then crawl underneath and tighten the pivot bolts. If that is too difficult, explain to the alignment specialist to loosen, then retighten those bolts when he has the truck on the drive-on hoist.
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Saturday, February 10th, 2018 AT 2:02 PM

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