Inner Tie Rod 2006 Aveo Hatchback with Automatic Transmission

Attached is a picture of the right hand inner tie rod that I removed from my vehicle. In this Aveo forum site I have seen it stated that inner tie rods are not replaceable and that is an inaccurate statement. I bought my Moog part from Rock Auto online. What is interesting is that after overcoming the initial torque of the tightened inner tie rod while using a 1/2" breaker bar that it stopped loosening. Ultimately acetylene torch heat had to be applied to the outside surface that the male tie rod threaded in to and a very long lever arm breaker bar used to overcome what you can see was an internal thread failure, very unusual. Then I cleaned up the internally damaged threads with a M16 x 1.5 tap (this is an uncommon tap size so beware). Everything went back together just fine, the vehicle was realigned and all is well. KevinAttachment 5940Attachment 5941

Thanks for the info and update Kevin!

Wow, that thread appears to be really mangled and almost looks like it somehow cross-threaded. Did it lose a lot of material in the cleanup process? Any wiggle room as you were rethreading it back in? Thanks for sharing this info!

Sorry to revive this thread but this is a heads up.

I have a 2004 that needed alignment. I was told I had to replace both inner and outer tierods because they were rusted together.
I bought the tierod removal tool from harbor freight and it uses the 1 1/4 inch crows foot. Well I did the driver side and it was alittle hard to remove but I got it off. A few threads were torn up like that. But when it came to do the passenger side. I was able to get the initial torque off and it spun about 2 turns then seized up. Which I tried spinning it back and forth and wounded up stripping out the the 4 flat spots on the inner tierod for the crows foot to lock onto. So right now I had to remove the Rack and pinion which isn't that easy. I had to have 3 friends stand on the rack while I used a pipe wrench with my foot to get it off and it looks exactly as the original poster have for pictures. I would have to clean out the threads as best as I can and use blue loctite on the new inner tierod. The next time if the inners are rusted together with the outer ones. The rack is getting replaced instead. I hope coating the jam nuts and the threaded parts with anti seize will prevent this from happening.

I'm also sorry for reviving a dead thread. Tonight I went to do the inner tie rods on my girlfriend's Aveo and had the exact same issue on the passenger side.

The first few threads on the rack itself are pretty full of crud, so I am hoping that a tap will fix the problem.

My advice is to beware when you pull these inners out and they start to get hard to remove. This is what will happen.

How did your rack threads look? Since it has been awhile did they hold up, or would it be risky and should I consider replacing the rack itself?

I figured it would be helpful to share some pictures as well.

Here's the old tie rod threads:

Attachment 10681

Here's the new tie rod threads:

Attachment 10685

Here's a few shots of the end of the rack:

Attachment 10682Attachment 10683Attachment 10684

Well what I done was just thread in the new tierod and use blue loctite on the new inner rod threads. Since the thread chaser was an odd size. Then wrench the crap out of it until its tight. It never came off and its been like that for a year. Of course it will mangle up the new inner tie rod threads as you tighten it making removal a impossible job or a really PITA to remove. Then I would cake the treads where the inner screws into the outter tierod and its nut for the alignment adjustment with anti seize so you do not need to replace the inner ones again.

If you want to replace this rack and pinion I would just get a new power steering hose for $20 and and return line for a few bucks while your at it. Since they torque the fittings on the steering gear very tight. IT will require lowering the subframe to get room to remove it. At least the steering shaft is easy to unbolt from steering wheel with no dust boots in the way. Just do not turn the steering wheel once you disconnect it or you will be replacing a clock spring for the horn and airbag system.

Alright, I'm glad to hear your repair is holding up well still. I liberally applied red locktite to the driver's side inner tie rod threads. These lasted 110k miles, if the car makes it to 220k the rack will just be replaced. I haven't put the outers on yet, but I will definitely put some anti seize on.

The biggest problem with mine isn't that the hole is stripped out. It's more that the old tie rod left a decent amount of its threads literally stuck (melted?) to the very first few threads of the rack. I can't even get the new tie rod to catch on the rack to start turning. I'm going to try and pick up a tap like OP and see if it helps.

The other thing I was thinking was to just drill out those first few threads. If you look at the tie rod, the thread ends before it reaches the "bolt" part, so threads wouldn't even be holding there even if the threads were perfect.

She doesn't even have a horn anymore, but don't want to destroy the airbag. I'll just tie it somehow. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though.

If you can't get the tierod to start threading you will need to tap or chase the threads out then. Good luck on finding one. Or try using a pick to remove the metal shavings off the threads the old inner tierod left behind. Just enough to get the tierod started in the rack.









Since this car has 110k miles on it you should replace the rear brake shoes once you got this done.
My friend bought his 2004 aveo with 120k miles and the 3rd day of owning it the driver rear brake shoe friction material came unglued from the metal support and locked up the wheel. I found this is very common with the stock brakes that came with the car. It required 1 whole day to use a slide hammer and axle puller to get it off if that happens. Even though the shoes looked good you can peel off most of the friction material with your fingers or a small flathead screw driver.

I recommend getting autozone's $50 brake drum with new bearing that is sealed for life with it since his came with serviceable ones. You will need a axle nut socket to remove the nut.

Luckily I found a tap at Napa in Naperville and some proper sized bolts to test the threads at that Home Depot so I am heading that way to grab them.

Good thing you said that because I am doing the front brakes. And I did pull the backs off and think to myself "Oh these are fine!". Ugh I HATE replacing drum brakes too.

I was a little confused when you are talking about getting the drum with the sealed bearing. After some research I realize now that some of the Aveos in 05 and earlier have a drum/bearing assembly. Luckily the 05 we have the drum just slides off after you take off some screws. The bearing hub stays in place.

I ended up using the tap to push the crud out of the first few threads. I ran the proper bolt through as a test and then sent the inner tie rod in. It went in and snugged up well. I put red locktite on it. It should work out well.

Thanks!

Wow they changed the design of the drum brakes within 1 year of production. Good to know that now. Now I wonder if the Daewoo Kalos uses the old style bearings which is from 2003 and older.

Personally I like the bearing hub that is bolted to the axle as a sealed unit. But did your brake friction material pretty much peeled off the metal shoe itself?

Good to hear you got the inner tierod shaft installed!

This is exactly what the 2004 one did that I fixed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGAXEFFvu7g the other side I was able to peel off the material from the shoe it could have locked up at any time.


Also fair warning. When was the timing belt last replaced on this car? It uses the same design as the 2004 and people recommend replacing it at 50,000 miles or you will bend valves on the engine since the plastic pulleys break and throws off the timing belt. You can buy the kit for $70 which comes with belt and two pulley's and 3 oil seals and water pump. But you need to buy a 41mm crows foot wrench to set the tension.

The next weak point is the plastic thermostat housing. They break and leak coolant. Usually when that happens the cylinder head warps and blows a head gasket. If yours has aluminum housing someone has replaced it already.

I just did the timing belt (again) last week. I had a mechanic buddy do the timing belt about 5 months ago and it started to fray out of nowhere. Must have gotten a defective one. Luckily it started making a noise and I got into it before it fully snapped. When I first started the car after completing the job it had a very loud tapping noise, so I thought the valves were toast. After letting it sit several days I fired it up and it was quiet again, so it turned out to be a lifter instead.

I also replaced the thermostat housing yesterday with the metal one. I also noticed her transmission cooler lines were nearly rusted away. I ordered replacements off Amazon. When I went to take them off they literally snapped apart. Got em just in time!

I placed an order for the rear shoes, drums, and kit. I'll hammer that out next week since you say they tend to disintegrate. Then she will have all new brakes.

My kit didn't come with the oil seals. I'm guessing you're talking about the Cam and Crank shaft seals? They weren't leaking (knock on wood).

Yes I was. The 2004 did not leak anything and it has about 130k on it now. Hows is her shocks and struts? I know my friends 2004 needed alignment and his rear shocks were totally shot at 120k. The front struts were replaced as a precaution since the upper strut mounts were loose. You can jack up the wheel and move the assembly pretty easy.


They did not cost too much to get the shocks on ebay. Just needed a spring compressor tool and impact wrench to make a quick job of it.

Okay so when you did your inner tie rods, did you realize that one of them from the factory has a breather hole in the threads and the other doesn't? The ones I got from Moog didn't have the breather hole at all and I think I'm getting bubbles in my power steering system now... The bellows boots have no where to breathe...

I reused the old dust boots on the rack. I did not notice anything like that. I want you to top off the power steering fluid. Then start the car and turn the steering wheel all the way to the left and hold it for 3 seconds. Then turn to the right all the way and hold it for 3 seconds. Do that 4 to 5 times and this will bleed the system.

The way this system is designed the fluid is rushing back to the reservoir with good pressure. It will swirl the fluid pretty fast and could cause air bubbles.

If you want you can take a pick or a nail and put a small hole in the dust boots to allow the air to escape while turning. If you think that is where the air is coming from. I would put the hole on the bottom side so that water will not enter the boot. I would take a paper clip and get it red hot and poke it through and that would be enough.

I know that some cars like on older fords they had a air pressure relief tube so that when one dust boot is compressed the air from it will be pushed on the expanding boot on the other side.

Here's some pictures to explain what I am talking about.

Attachment 10718Attachment 10719Attachment 10720

You can see that the parts are NOT the same, like all of the manufacturers state, Auto7 on RockAuto has it right. On the drivers side the air in the boot funnels through the rack and pinion gear somehow, but the passenger side it flows through the rod.

I noticed that Moog has updated their part and the newer updates do not have the holes, whereas the old revision does.

As far as I know there is no way for air to be compressed through the rack like that. It would not breathe in that hole where it goes to nothing inside the threaded ends of the rack itself. Did you still get air bubbles when you bled the system?

I took the boots off and I'm still getting the bubbles. This is with the vehicle turned off and the wheels off the ground though, so I'm honestly thinking it's just churning in the return container and creating bubbles there and I have never noticed it before.

I noticed the inside of that rod was hollow, but you might be right that it actually doesn't go anywhere. Hmm. I wonder how that boot vents then?

I ended up just hacking an external breather between the two boots. I posted about it in the inner tie rod replacement forum.

As far as the struts, I pushed down on each corner of the car and it returned without much bouncing. I also reached my fingers into where the piston is and didn't feel any grease. I am deeming them good for now. I believe the front struts are a "floating" design in the sense that they aren't actually bolted on at the top. They just push up against the top of the frame and sit in there. Both of the front struts rotated as you were talking when the car was up in the air and I turned the wheel, but they do not when it's on the ground. It's squeaky for sure, so I am sure those mounts have some wear to them, but I don't know how they could stay quiet for long given their design anyways.

I figured this rotation was probably somewhat normal because it's not actually bolted in at the top. In my Grand Prix there is the center bolt that holds the shock onto the strut and then there are three bolts that hold the assembly into the car itself. In the Aveo it's just the single bolt for the strut/shock.