Best quality tie rod ends?
 

1999 ML430 with 189,870 miles. Told that I need to replace tie rod ends (outer tie rods) due steering play, high speed vibration and clunk when hitting bumps.

I plan to do them myself. Found lots of info on Tie rod R+R on previious posts but would like to know which brand to go with? I would like for the new ones to last as long as OEM or longer. I have found several but will not list here due to forum rules. Any ideas? Thanks!

Well, you have answered your own question. I learned my lesson. When it comes to ball joints and stuff, I will stick with OEM, i.e. those with the three point star. Unless you want to do it every other year.

Go with OE!!

Every thing else is either from China or Turkey..

You right Supradupe! I did not notice that until I re-read it in your post. I should have said "best quality tie rods for the money." I have found them priced between $39-$96 per rod.

I will be buying OE DOC. I have two dealers in the area, one has them for $70, the other for $96. What a difference! Of course I will be buying the ones for $70. Thanks guys!

$70 is a good price.

Let us know how much luck you have getting the old ones off!! :)

not sure about the OP, my solution was to replace the inner tie rods all together. much easier.

I decided to tackle this job two Mondays ago during the holiday weekend. After reading other posts, I knew to use some PB Blaster to loosen the rust on the tie rods. It still took me about an hour to get the first side off. I read that this was only about a 20-30 minute job so I was really getting frustrated.

I did not get the right side tie rod off until after I hit the rod with my hammer a few times. I had marked the threads with a permanent marker so that I could put the new ones on in the same place but the PB Blaster and rust made the marker very difficult to see. I think it might have washed it off. Because of these problems, on the left side I used white-out to mark the tie rod and a hammer to free up the rust. Left side took about 20 minutes.

After putting everything back together and taking the truck for a drive, I noticed my steering wheel was stuck about a 1/4 turn to the right. I took the truck to get an alignment the next day. This centered my steering wheel as well, now the ML rides the way it should. Next job-Sway Bar Bushings!