I suspected my outer tie-rod had worn out a little while ago and decided to buy the full tie-rod assembly as could also see the rubber boot had become twisted at some point.

After taking the wheel off and removing the tie rod from the steering knuckle, I marked down and measured the position of the locking nut to ensure my tracking didn’t become misaligned when replacing the rod end. I then removed the inner boot and replaced this with the new one and then moved on to the tie-rod end. This took a little bit of force to crack but it did come off without too much trouble. I replaced this and used a jack to help me align the (now fixed) tie-rod back into the steering knuckle and tightened everything back up to spec.

When test-driving afterwards I noticed that my tracking was a tiny bit off so decided to drive up onto a block of wood to allow me to make small adjustments to the tracking arm, putting to use what I was recently taught on a job trial week! After a lot of testing, adjustment and re-testing, I got it to a place I was happy with. I have since been checking the tyre wear to ensure it is even; I’ve also purchased a replacement tie-rod end for the opposite side which I am planning to install soon.