Porsche 996 Turbo Tie Rod Replacement

Does your front suspension clunk when going over bumps?  It is possible that your Porsche 996 Turbo needs new tie rods.  You can diagnose a failed tie rod by jacking up the car and moving the wheels with you hands side to side.  Even a small amount of play will sound like a loud clunk when the car is driven.  In this article I will show you how to replace the tie rods on your Porsche 996 Turbo.  The procedure will be about the same on Carrera C4S.

1.  Remove the front wheels.

2.  Remove the steering rack inner boot clamp.

3.  Remove the outer clamp and slide the boot out in order to expose the inner joint.

4.  Unbolt the tie rod from the steering rack using a 30mm wrench.  Turn the steering wheel all the way over to the side so you can get a wrench on the inner tie rod.

5.  Unbolt the out tie rod ball joint from the steering knuckle.

6.  Since I am not saving the old tie rod, I am just going to use the air hammer to pop the ball joint out of the steering knuckle.

7.  Remove the tie rod out of the car.

8.  Measure the length of the old tie rod and try to adjust the new as close as possible in length to the old one.

9.  TRW tie rod boots come with two packets of silicone lubricant that should be applied to the out part of the boot where it clamps to the tie rod.

 

10.  Bolt the tie rod to the steering rack.

11.  Clamp the boot to the rack.

12.  Bolt up the tie rod end to the steering knuckle and torque the nut to 75Nn or 56ftlb.

Your alignment is going to be off obviously.  I wouldn't drive the car too much until you get the alignment done.