Porsche Tie Rod Ends

 Why install turbo tie-rod ends on your street car?

You can’t see them. Your friends at the Porsche Club of America will never notice them but they do make a difference. They’re called tie-rod assemblies and every time your turn the steering wheels you’ll use them. Howard Adams of Porsche Vintage Parts feels that they’re a natural upgrade for any non-turbo Porsche.

You can now purchase a kit that includes
everything you'll need

The 911 was designed with rubber bushings in the tie rod assemblies. These kept the steering wheel kickback isolated. The rubber bushings in the tire rod ends insulate the steering wheel from the front wheels. A very nice idea for a street car but just the opposite of what we want in a high performance application.

Porsche reached the same conclusion when they released the 911 Turbo. When the 930 was designed the rubber bushings were eliminated in favor of a ball and socket. The performance of the turbo was so impressive that Porsche decided to make the steering even more precise than in the normally aspirated cars. Not a bad idea for any 911.

Howard pointed out the very interesting fact that the Turbo-look cars came with normal 911 tie-rod assemblies. Just because your Weissach 911 came with the flares and brakes of the 930 don’t assume that you got the good tie-rod assemblies. You didn’t.

           

When you order the new tie-rod ends make sure that you also order the rubber boots that fit on the end of the steering rack. The turbo tie rod ends require a different boot from the plain 911. In our effort to drive parts people insane we ordered two new steering rack boots for Project 911 and forgot to tell them what we were doing with them Holbert Porsche had two new boots air freighted in for us. The only problem was that they were the wrong boots. Screw-ups like this can deprive you of the privilege of standing at Porsche parts counter. If you do it too often you might have to buy a Jaguar.       

The other parts consideration is the matter of spacers (930 347 313 01). These are really big washers that you’ll need if you have oversize tires on a non-turbo car. Without the washers the large tires will rub on a really tight turn. You may never have this problem on a street car but if you participate in solo or timed events you certainly will. If you’re the only person in the United States with stock ties on your 911 you can also forget about the spacer.

Switching the assemblies around is not a real serious project; it’s even easier than ordering the right parts, just a little more aggravating. It’s basically a bolt-on operation. It’s also one of those jobs where a lift is a big help. It can be done on the garage floor, but just plan on spending twice as long and using a lot more profanity.

Whether you’re working on the ground or on a lift, the first step is to measure the distance between the two front wheels. This front wheel measurement will all you to get the toe setting close enough to drive the car to the alignment shop when you’re all done.

From an RSR - 2.3 turns lock to lock vs. 3.2 on a stock 911

The next step is to remove the tie-rod end from the front spindle. First, remove the nut holding the ball socket to the spindle. Then, using a pickle fork and a big hammer, separate the tie-rod end from the spindle. A couple of good solid whacks with the hammer and the tie-rod end should drop right out.

Removing the old steering rack boots is very simple. First you cut the springs that hold the boot to the steering rack, and then you push the boot out of the way. If you cut the springs on both ends of the boot, you just slide the boot to the outside, right off the car. Then it’s simply a matter of removing the retaining nut from the old tie-rod end.

This retainer is a little strange but you’ll easily figure it out. A spanner wrench of the right configuration would work nicely but we ended up with a big center punch and an even larger hammer. After you loosen the nut, you can simply unthread it from the steering rack.

With all the old parts out of the way, the new parts bolt right up to the steering rack. You’ll need one very large wrench to do the job. It should be 1-1/4 and be very thin. We finally found one in the Snap-On catalog – at the usual Snap-On price. If we rent this tool out to friends every couple of years, we should recover the cost sometime in the next decade.

After bolting the tie-rod to the steering rack, you get to have real fun – putting the new rubber boot on the end of the rack. This is like putting a condom on an elephant. There’s no reason for it to be difficult – but it can take a long time. After walking away in frustration, I was able to do the job in a single try. You should be so lucky.

The other point we forgot to mention is to start with the tie-rod end on the passenger’s side of the car. That’s the easy side. When you get over to the left side of the car, you have the master cylinder in your way – not fun at all.

With everything bolted up, you can carefully drive to the alignment shop and have the front toe set to the proper specifications. Or, in the car of Project 911, we are going to weigh the car to properly set the ride height before we align the car. That though is a job for another month.

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