Inner tie rod & ball joint

[Big D]

Ok guys, so here goes. I finaly bit the bullet and went into crappy tire to have the suspension looked at. I thought for sure my clunking over bumps was the end links. Well it turns out the clunking is from my inner tie rod on the drivers side. The passenger side ball joint is gone too. He showed me the proof on the lower ball joint, but does the inner tie rod make sense?? or was he just trying to get me to waste money?

1) Anyway, the ball joint is BAD, so my question is....how hard is it to change... I've researched how, but from experience, how long does it take?

2) how hard is an inner tie rod to change, and would you recommend changing the outter one while im at it?

i really dont want to pay over 300$ labour, i'd rather do it myself AFTER the cost of parts....we all know they arent cheap.

Thanks
Dan

[PATDIESEL]

hehe, jsut make sure you get the Correct ball joint. Mazda changed the diameter of them mid 93' (I found out the hard way with my car right in the middle of my office parking lot at 3am, and the office opens at 8am. I had to source the correct size to get the spindle back on so that car could even roll out of the way. Luckily for me myself and a few MOCA members had just bought 4- 4'x4'x4' crates full of MX-3 parts and I found a good det in there to replace the wong ones I had bought.) Anyway, my story aside, the job should have taken about an hour to change out both ball joints. All you have to do is take the strut loose from the spindle, remove the nut and bolt that hold the ball joint, hammer the old ball joint out with a punch or ball joint seperator, and the install the new ones reverse.
The inner tie rod can cause a knocking if loose or worn as it will bump around on the steering rack shaft. Replace both ends of you are getting one end. It doesn't require any special tools that I know of, but read the online shop manual for a good set of instructions. Should take about 2 hours to replace both ends of both sides.
I'd also suggest that you replace all the rack ends, inner and outer, and both ball joints at the same time. That way you know they are all good and know that you have several more years untill you replace any of them again.

[mx3autozam]

If you gettie rod ends your going to need to get an alignment..but what he said...do it alla nd you will feel great about it

[Big D]

would a bad inner tie rod cause a vibration?? i did the ball joints and just had my winters balanced....but there is a vibration between 85 - 100 ... above or below there isnt much if at all

D.

[PATDIESEL]

All cars have a vibration at some speed. It is nothing more than a harmonic balance between the engine and the axle at a set speed. (the speed varies between cars depending on the engine and the axle) You'll notice that on stock Mazda axles they have a rubber bushing on the axle about half way down the legnth of the shaft. It is supposed to help absorb the vibration. Aftermarket axles do not have the bushing and thus you'll feel it more.
This vibration that I'm talking about is slight and can only be felt if you are paying attention. If your vibration is worse then it might be something else. However, with the description you gave it sounds like the axle harmonic.

This is not a joke. I know I have posted some silly jokes before when explaining a problem/fix, but this is not one of them. It is 100% true I promise.

[MX3 GSR for dummies]

This should help you. I knowingly have a passenger side inner gone with a driver side ball gone two. I had the inner gone for a while and I believe the result cause the ball joint to go on the oppisite side. Sounds really familiar so I would look at the inner for twisting of the boot or gunk sprayed in the area...and just shake the tire by hand left to right and look for movement to confirm your ball joint.