Necessary tools:
- 32mm socket – for the ball joint
- 22mm socket – for the parallelism adjustment lock nut (jamb nut)
- 19/20mm socket – to keep counter on the tie rod (dimensions varies)
- 16mm socket- steering ball joint nut
- 13mm socket – to turn the ball joint arm from the steering rack side
- torque wrench – for torque tightening – you probably won’t have it but i have specified the torque values here to have an ideea of how much force should be applied on each item
- big hammer or ball joint removal tool
- adjustable spanner wrench (pipe wrench) – preferred in some situations
- 27/30 torx
- Loctite Frenbloc – to block accidental loosening of the ball joints from the rack bar
- lithium grease – for the bellows, rack bar, ball joint
Spare parts:
Tie rod ends (named in the service manual colectie pipa-bieleta sau cutie rotula) are to be found made by ASAM SA, Iasi, at a price of ~68 lei. Those in brown cartoon box come without the knucle-side nut , the new ones in colored box with Logan/Sandero inscription, are having the nut, which has a blocking ring inside. The street price can be as low as ~30 lei.
Inner tie rods (named bieleta cu rotula axiala in the service manual), made in Iasi, can be found at a very good price of ~25 lei, or ~30 lei street price.
You also need to buy hose clamps for the boots of the ball joints or you can use cable ties.
The parts made in Iasi come with 2 years guarantee.
Bieleta cu rotula axiala si pipa bieleta
How-to:
Removal:
Lift the car on the jack, ensuring it with the handbrake and rocks on the other wheels. For your safety is better to use stands.
1.1 If you want to change only the end tie rod:
Loosen the nut that fixes the tie rod end on the knuckle. Then use the ball joint removal tool or the big hammer (the joint is cone pressed).
If you use the hammer, you will not be able to use the tie rod if something fails and you are needed to put it back on the car.
Loosen the jamb nut.
You can do until here in any order.
Loosen the jamb nut and take note of the initial position of it – will help for the pre-tuning of the wheels alignment later on. You can now unscrew the tie rod end from the inner tie rod.
1.2 If you change both tie rods:
ATTENTION! It is not reccomended to do this operation without having a special device for blocking the steering rack bar. If you don’t keep counter on it when unscrewing the ball joint you can damage the steering rack-pinion joint.
Take off the boots hose clamps, slide them with care until you can see the ball joint and the rack bar. You can steer the wheels to get an accesible unscrewing position . Mount the rack bar blocking device or keep counter with a pipe wrench (very hard to do) and with the 32mm socket unscrew the ball joint box from the rack bar.
Ansamblu directie Logan
Assembly:
Screw the tie rod in the inner tie rod until you reach the jamb nut position spotted in the removal phase.
This nut should be fastened after wheels alignment at 50 N.m. torque.
Screw the whole assembly or only the inner tie rod on the rack bar (depending on the chosen order of operations, not needed to do like i did).
Before this, it is reccomended to use LOCTITE FRENBLOC on the tie rod thread.
This one should be fastened with 34 N.m. torque.
Apply a layer of lithium grease on the boot, rack bar and ball joint, then slide the boot on his position. Fix it with hose clips or cable ties.
The fix the tie rod end on the knuckle and fasten the nut with 37 N.m. torque.
Put the wheel back on the car, get it on the ground and fasten the wheel bolts with 105 N.m. torque.
Possible problems:
- you can’t unscrew the jamb nut – if it was fastened too rough, dirt and rust accumulated, can cause this
- you can’t loosen the tie rod end from the knuckle – use the ball joint removal tool or a bigger hammer
ATTENTION! You are doing this on your own! I wrote here the way i did it, but MY PROFESSION IS NOT CAR MECHANIC and i don’t think is the best or correct way to do this. Those operations require mechanical skills. It is preffered to take the car to the service – they will be able to fix it (sometimes break it more) faster and easier..
