Another long winded post because I don't know any other:

Symtpoms: Kinda loose steering, a hard pull to the right, rattling and vibration coming from front end (especially the R side) at high speeds, and now something new (see second paragraph)

During my checking the tie rods showed signs of wear by way of their sagging during detachment with the tie rod ends. Otherwise they didn't show signs of 'slop' that other people on BB said would indicate they were worn. They were last replaced in 1998. Boots torn.

Tie rod ends? I have no clue. I couldn't get the channel locks on them well enough to jostle them. The thing is that the wheels didn't really flex between 3:00 and 9:00, only 12 and 6 (more on that later).


I noticed that the right tie rod had something like 1 - 1.5 more threads exposed than the L (I didn't measure it though, just counted threads). This would be responsible for toeing out the wheel to that side (and it is indeed the side that the car pulls to). SO I experimented with a compensatory 0.5 or so thread reduction on the offending side. I also swapped L and R tires to wear them out equally. Now the problem from this is that during my short test drive the steering wheel was vibrating between 24 and 33 MPH, and the steering was getting noticeably swervy (never ever happened before; it felt crazy unsafe). The correction it provided is irrelevant because now I wonder what is causing that ominous swerve and rattle: the rotated tire, my small compensation in tie rod length, or me somehow bungling the tie rod end removal and reinstallation (I could go in to all kinds of detail about how I couldn't get the lock nuts off and I put a lot of torque on the TR themselves [and also the steering gear itself?], how I hammered on the stud to seperate the ball joint then I had to hold the stud later with another set of pliers to keep it from rotating as I refastened the nut, etc.). Oh yeah and the Bently said to mark the wheel position on the hub before removing, which I failed to notice before I rotated the wheels. So...

Next puzzle piece: Wheels rattle at 12 and 6 o'clock. Both wheels turn freely with only a noise that I would associate with the rubbing of the brake parts against each other (a sliding kind of sound, not unlike the sound of braking itself). So is that freeplay from the ball joint or is it the bearings? No record of either being replaced in my receipt history which dates back 13 years.

The strut inserts are pretty toast and I plan on replacing them. The rack is firmly in place on the crossmember; I'm slowly turkey basting the PS fluid out and replacing with synth ATF 4.

That's pretty much a question every other sentence. Would anyone mind advising? As always, I greatly appreciate it. Thanks.