Driver Side Front Wheel, Ripped Rubber Boot | Ford Explorer Forums

  • Register Today It's free!

Driver Side Front Wheel, Ripped Rubber Boot

Stoeger

New Member
Joined
March 25, 2007
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
City, State
Michigan
Year, Model & Trim Level
02 Sport
2002 Explorer Sport

Driver side wheel, looking at it from the front... the little boot is ripped...

What is this part?
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year or try it out for $5 a month.

Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.











IMG_9103.png


the small boot, in front...

what is it?
 












That'd be your outer tie-rod end. Fairly cheap, easy fix, just need to have a professional alignment done afterwards.

You may want to check/replace all 4 (2 inner, 2 outer) at the same time, then there's only the one alignment cost.
 












Thanks. I am gettting wobbles over bumps in the front end. Since this boot is ripped, there is pretty much 100% chance the part underneath is bad and it needs to be replaced?

How much can replacing this tie rod end improve/tighten up the front end? A little or a lot better?
 






grab it and shake it, if it doesn't perceptibly move, then not much.

Shaking over bumps is usually a sign of worn shocks, but could be a number of things, next suspect on Explorers with high mileage is ball joints.
 






Back
Top