Inner vs Outer Tie Rod Play

What are some good ways to tell which rod has play? Some people hold on to each while someone else shakes the wheel, but I am having a hard time telling with that method. What do you guys do?

For outers, I usually try to shake with one arm and get my other hand around the outer joint AND the arm it connects to on the knuckle. With both in one hand, it's easier (for me, anyway) to distinguish when there's play between the two.

Inners can be tougher. I don't care for the whole grasping-both-inners-while-shaking-the-wheel thing, personally. Too easy to get confused with rack play. I've had better luck trying to grip the inner joint through the bellows boot, and try to get a finger in the joint itself. Makes it easier to tell if you've got a loose tie rod, play between the rack and pinion gear, or play in the rack bushings.

Sometimes I still gotta drag another tech over, anyway. :lol:

Dry park checks are fantastic for parallelogram and drag link steering, but kinda useless for rack and pinion, IMO.

I suck at finding suspension noises, so I'm always looking for new tricks.
I usually have someone grab the rim and tire and move it left to right while I touch and watch the ball joints and tie rod ends. If I can feel it coming through the rack but not observe any movement in the outers, then it's usually the inners. If you can sneak a finger behind the boot, it can help. Don't forget that the steering column will move a certain amount even when locked. You'll be able to see the intermediate shaft (or the steering wheel) moving though.

I like the tips about holding the boots. I'll give that a try. I wish there was a resource like Paul's knowledge network that addressed steering and suspension. I suck at diagnosing those things!

Thanks for the tips!

Sometimes loose tierods are difficult to pinpoint. One tip I suggest is to look at the outer tiered boot. Also some outer tierods almost never have side to side movement, like Ford trucks. On those use a pair of channel locks to squeeze the tierod joint vertically. And on wheel bearings look at the rotor and backing plate, you will be able to see the rotor move in relation to the backing plate. Or if it has an axle going through the bearing watch the axle for movement. Inner tierods can be more tricky. At a Nissan dealer your not likely going to see idler arms and pitman arms but to check those put channel locks on the draglink and try to twist it back and forth. And shocks and struts are one of the most under sold item on a car or truck. Shock manufacturers say every 50k miles. I think that's excessive but if it has OE shocks and struts and over 100k miles they need to be replaced aslong as your replacing them with good parts. If you're going to put on gas-matics then leave the OE on unless they're completely trashed