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I have just purchased two new steering rack gaiter boots for the front of my mx5 as one is split. Can anyone advise who can fit these, a mechanic or should I take it to a suspension place? Also, will the wheel alignment or the camber be affected with replacing these?
Thanks Nicky

Gaiter boots in themselves shouldn't affect alignment (they're just dust covers, the mechanical bits are un changed)

HOWEVER, you will still need to get an alignment done afterwards as it will likely be out because of the fact you'll have had to undo bits and re-attach them.


either way, mechanic or suspension place should be able to do them.
a suspension place will be able to do the alignment then and there which may be included in the price.

Ok cool, so will it affect the camber as well?

no - only the tie-rod end has to be removed.

I have decided to have a go at fitting these myself as it looks straight forward enough.

When replacing the boots and before they get put on , do I have to clean and grease the inner tie rod end joint or do I just put the boot on and not worry about it???

You will need a tie rod splitter. I have one you can borrow ( and a shed with all the other tools you may need if required). PM me is you need a hand.

Russell

Hi Russell,

Thanks for the offer. My boyfriend and I will give it a go with the help of the 'Haynes manual ". This is a great site for help and advise from people who are a bit more knowledgeable on the MX. Im also trying to get to learn a bit about the mechanics side of things. Ill see how we go with the splitter, as I have read that we will need one. Do we need to regrease before putting the new gaitors on?
Thanks again for your help,
Cheers Nicky.

Usually if the gaitors have been busted for a while you'll have dust/dirt/water in the grease so it'll be off colour and contamined. So I think it'd be a good idea to clean it off and reapply some fresh stuff when you have it apart now. Doing it later would be quite a PITA

Nicky,

No problems at all. If you get stuck give me a yell. It is good to hear the people are still wanting to learn how to do some of the work themselves.

There are only a few Perth people on the forum, so we have to stick together as much as possible.

Russell

You can unscrew the tie rod from the tie rod end saves you mucking around breaking the taper and if you screw the tie rod back in to the same spot you dont need to align.

You might as well put new grease in there while it's all apart.

Make sure you take lots of DIY photos to share with the rest of us.

geofiz wrote:Nicky,

No problems at all. If you get stuck give me a yell. It is good to hear the people are still wanting to learn how to do some of the work themselves.

There are only a few Perth people on the forum, so we have to stick together as much as possible.

Russell

We should do like the guys in the other states do and have regular dodgy days to help each other out. We might even have enough of us to make it worth hiring a hoist somewhere.

Boyracer wrote:You can unscrew the tie rod from the tie rod end saves you mucking around breaking the taper and if you screw the tie rod back in to the same spot you dont need to align.

Yep...You will see that there is 2 'flats' machined on the tie rod so you can turn it with a spanner. This is how the suspension shops adjust toe angle. With the car off of the ground you should be able to turn the tie rod enough that is comes out of the tie rod end.

Before you do all that though a quick and easy way of getting your car back to its original alignment...

You can count the threads that are already exposed and just screw it back in to the same position

You can use a texta or liquid paper to mark how far in the tie rod was screwed

You can use a texta to draw a line along the tie rod end and on to the tie rod and count the turns as you undo it. When you put it back just screw it back in the same number of turns, I always feel this is the most accurate way of doing it.

If you dont remember the last time the alignment was done it is probably about time it went for one anyway but the above tips will get you back on the road straight away.

deviant wrote:...We should do like the guys in the other states do and have regular dodgy days to help each other out. We might even have enough of us to make it worth hiring a hoist somewhere...

Still waiting for Gary to get his.

I'd be happy to participate if i'm free. I have a never ending list of stuff that needs to be done to my cars.

Thanks for your help guys
Nicky

Okibi wrote:

deviant wrote:...We should do like the guys in the other states do and have regular dodgy days to help each other out. We might even have enough of us to make it worth hiring a hoist somewhere...

Still waiting for Gary to get his.

I'd be happy to participate if i'm free. I have a never ending list of stuff that needs to be done to my cars.

Sounds good. I am seriously up for this, I plan on doing more motorsport stuff this year so there is always going to be bits I want / need to do and things often get done much quicker with a pooling of resources and knowledge. Good excuse for a natter and a feed / beer to.

Its a way off yet but I am hoping that by the end of this year I will have a shed built with some hoistage to.