about 5 months ago i swapped in a 95 M3 rack into my 91 325i. when i installed it. everything was tight as far as the tie rods so i reused the M3 ones and installed E30 lock tabs. last weekend the steering wheel started to get a little shimmy at freeway speeds and started canting to the right (off center) i jacked it up and could move the wheels a little , GREAT i need inner tie rods ALREADY WTF?
i checked the flex disc since i deleted the P/S great shape!
well, today on the way to my friends shop, just after i got off of the freeway, i lost my steering by about 50%...... i limped it the 2 blocks to his shop thinking the disc came apart and .....holy shit! the pass side inner tie rod had UNSCREWED itself and seperated from the rack!
i put it up on the rack , pulled the boot and it had sheered the lock tab and worked itself free!
i ordered up a new pair of lock tabs (E30) and RED loctited the fucker in on the pass side and then, for good measure, repeated the same for the drivers side just incase.
now what i am wondering is, has anyone that has done the swap and used the E36 tie rods and rack, but bought the E30 lock tabs run into this?
the E36 are around $35 for the pair VS $8 for the pair for the E30. i have seen over and over again the that they are interchangable and they do indeed fit, but the E36 are thicker and have a reinforcement piece of about 1/8- 1/32 of and inch thickness spot welded to it. the E30 are just a normal thin lock tab, nothing that concerned me at the time i was installing them.
YES, they were deffinately tightened all the way down when i installed them the first time, that is for sure! this is not a failier due to installed error. random, maybe, but scarry none the less. i will see if they have worked themselves loose when i replace the tie rods in a few weeks.
just a heads up incase you have done the swap and used the lock tabs that i did, you might want to pull back the boots and have a look.
i checked the flex disc since i deleted the P/S great shape!
well, today on the way to my friends shop, just after i got off of the freeway, i lost my steering by about 50%...... i limped it the 2 blocks to his shop thinking the disc came apart and .....holy shit! the pass side inner tie rod had UNSCREWED itself and seperated from the rack!
i put it up on the rack , pulled the boot and it had sheered the lock tab and worked itself free!
i ordered up a new pair of lock tabs (E30) and RED loctited the fucker in on the pass side and then, for good measure, repeated the same for the drivers side just incase.
now what i am wondering is, has anyone that has done the swap and used the E36 tie rods and rack, but bought the E30 lock tabs run into this?
the E36 are around $35 for the pair VS $8 for the pair for the E30. i have seen over and over again the that they are interchangable and they do indeed fit, but the E36 are thicker and have a reinforcement piece of about 1/8- 1/32 of and inch thickness spot welded to it. the E30 are just a normal thin lock tab, nothing that concerned me at the time i was installing them.
YES, they were deffinately tightened all the way down when i installed them the first time, that is for sure! this is not a failier due to installed error. random, maybe, but scarry none the less. i will see if they have worked themselves loose when i replace the tie rods in a few weeks.
just a heads up incase you have done the swap and used the lock tabs that i did, you might want to pull back the boots and have a look.