E36 inner tie rod specs

[Jroc81]

To all the guys that have access to e36 inner tie rods, what are the specs of these? Specifically I'm trying to determine if they're longer or shorter than e30 inners, when installed in an e30 rack. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[ninety4e36]

I would tell you, but then that means I have to take them apart lol.

Idk how close you are to a BMW dealer but they might have them there. Go to a junk yard grab an e30 one and compare :)

[jeffnhiscars]

Respectfully, the question makes no sense. You adjust either any of them to the length you need..which happens to be 15.5 inches from the end of the rack to the centre of the outer ball joint. I did this putting e36 tie rods on during my e36 rack swap & have not even done an alignment. Tires are wearing perfectly.

[Jroc81]

Jeff I appreciate your respectful response. specifically, I'm trying to find out what the longest inner is, that I can bolt onto an e30 rack. The general concencus seems to be that e36 inners are the longest that'll do the job. I'm just trying to find out the actual measured length.

[jeffnhiscars]

I still dont get what you are trying to figure out or why, but then thats not uncommon online :-)

You have to use both the inner AND outer from one or the other as they cannot be cross mixed and each complete assembly is adjustable well within the needs of an e30 (I have installed both e30& e36 assemblies on my cars).

The only differences are that the male & female threads are opposite between the 2 (which is why they cant be intermixed) and the e36 comes in left and right since it has a bit of an "S" to it near the knuckle. The e36 assemblies are also a bit beefier & use a reinforced lock tab. When I bought them, they were actually cheaper than the e30 assemblies so it was a no brainer.

If Im still not on point here, I apologize. Perhaps a pic or diagram or maybe I need to drink more before I post :-p

[Jroc81]

Jeff, I actually already knew all of that. But, I do appreciate your attempts to keep me informed! To clear up the confusion, I'm making a custom tie rod set-up wherein the only BMW component will be the inners. But, I need to know which of those inners(e36, e46, or e90) are the longest available, that'll bolt into an e30 rack and that inners specs I.e. Installed length and thread pitch/diameter(where the outer would screw on). Hope this helps

[jeffnhiscars]

I dont have a pitch gauge but if you have the inner you are going to use that part should be easy. I have no idea about e46 or e90 parts but as I posted earlier, the finished length for any tie rod on a non M e30 is 15.5 inches (obviously this can vary somewhat from car to car for precision) assuming your rack is 23.75 . Thats measuring from the lock plate to the bottom centre of the outer ball joint. I measured the old rack & rods fully assembled on the ground and the whole thing straight. Worked for me.

[Jroc81]

Turns out the e90 inners are the longest that will bolt onto an e30 rack. But, thanks for your input jeff!