Looking for sime advice re steering parts

Hoping that someone can offer some advice on this...

Finally got around to replacing some steering parts this morning. The joint at the pitman arm had about 1/2 inch of up and down play in it which I took as a bad sign. I got a good deal on some Crown replacement parts so I replaced the tie rod, tie rod ends and adjuster, and the drag link and drag link ends. A couple of weird things:

1. The rubber boot on right knuckle tie rod end looks like it doesn't seat far down far enough around the tie rod end. - it's bunched up - squished even, between the knuckle and the tie rod end. With that kind of fitment, it's only a matter of time before the top of rubber boot wears through from rubbing at the knuckle. There was a blue plastic cap (kind of like a rattle can cap with a hole in the middle) that came on right knuckle the tie-rod end - I assumed that was only for protection of the tie rod end during shipping so I took it off for installation - should I have left it on?

You can see the squished tie rod end boot in the above photo

1. The threaded part of the drag link end (for the castellated nut) that connects to the middle (roughly) of the tie rod doesn't go though the tie rod far enough. There's enough threads to just about get the castellated nut all the way on, but not enough to wind the nut down to expose the cotter pin hole - is that normal? The original had a cotter pin but once I got the new one on, i didn't want to press it off again to see if there's a cotter pin hole there.

You can see the castellated nut in the above photo (also the squished tie rod end boot.

1. The rubber grease boot at the pit-man arm tie rod end is a short cone shape rather than the typical bulbous shape that the original boot had. Is that some new design? (I couldn't get a good picture of the problem - if it is a problem)

Thanks for any advice.

The rubber boot looks normal to me. The blue cap is to protect the threads, as is the red plastic net thing in your picture. Both should have been removed and discarded prior to installation. The other joint needs to be installed deep enough to install the pin into the castle nut. It looks like your joint may not be reamed deep enough. Are these all stock replacement parts?

Hey Rock:

Thanks for your note.

The parts are 'stock' fitment but aftermarket - I guess. The make is Crown which I thought was a pretty common OEM supplier.

When I look at the back side of the that drag link end (i.e. on the other side of the bar) nothing looks out of place. It's almost as if the threaded part isn't long enough to accommodate the full castellated nut (the nut is almost flush with the end of the stud - it seem to me that it should be about another 1/8th to 1/4" longer). I guess it could be a taper issue??

RockMonkey said:

The blue cap is to protect the threads, ,,,,

Click to expand...

Hey Rock:

I don't think the cap is a thread protector. It's a plastic cap that fits over the boot with the threaded and tapered parts projecting through a hole in the top of the cap - i.e. it doesn't cover any of the threads. My guess is that it's to prevent the boot from having a hole poked in it during manufacture or shipping. However, if that theory is accurate, why didn't any of the other 'ends' have similar caps?

XJBucko said:

Hey Rock:

I don't think the cap is a thread protector. It's a plastic cap that fits over the boot with the threaded and tapered parts projecting through a hole in the top of the cap - i.e. it doesn't cover any of the threads. My guess is that it's to prevent the boot from having a hole poked in it during manufacture or shipping. However, if that theory is accurate, why didn't any of the other 'ends' have similar caps?

Click to expand...

Huh. I don't think I've ever seen one like that. I think the much bigger problem is the tie-rod end that doesn't seat deep enough. Do you still have the boxes that your parts came in? You might just want to verify that they're all the correct part numbers. I'm not much help with stock XJ steering. All the stock suspension, axles, and steering came off my XJ right after I brought it home.

I popped off that joint to have another look - to see if anything was preventing the stud from fully seating in the taper but there was nothing obvious. I put it back together and torqued to speck - still goofy! At this point, I'm thinking that I'll put the castellated nut on upside down and hopefully I'll hit the hole so at least I can cotter pin the nut.

FYI, all the Crown Automotive suspension parts I have bought have been poorly made, and suffered from a short and miserable service life. I now buy Moog, Spicer, or NAPA Premium suspension parts.