steering rack/ inner tie rod bellows boot

[ahaidet]

I attempted to change my inner tie rods this weekend. All went well other than when I went to Autozone to pick up my inner tie rod ends they came without bellows boots, when asked about the lack of bellows boots I was told to go to a junk yard or a dealer to find them. I find this ridiculous myself once again Autozone dropping the ball only selling you half the parts you need to get the job done. I called other parts stores all told me the same thing no bellows with their kits, an they cant get the bellows themselves. So I live near Summit Racing, they carry Energy suspension, I read the thread on here that said Energy Suspension might make them, I talked to the guy from Summit Racing who insisted they had them, when what he sold me in reality was the outer tie rod end boot/ dust cover. I checked back and energy suspension doesn't even actually make a bellows boot for anything. Any rate only place I can find them is the dealer, on line through Rockville with discount I'm getting quotes of $25 a piece and they are special order. By the time Rockville gets them to me were talking another week for stupid bellows boots?? Anyone know anywhere else to get these??

 

[ahaidet]

Ok, I wasn't satisfied with the answer that Autozone didn't have the bellows boot for any car! They had to have them for something so I started looking around their website to see if I could find something close and maybe make it work. Any rate turns out the ignorant people they have working there do not realize they have a universal steering rack bellows kit, the part number for it is:

Cosmos-Steering Rack Bellows boot
UF2020

Requires some trimming to the end to get the right diameter for the rack but fits exactly like stock after trimming. So if you are replacing your inner tie rod ends, you want this part as well as this protects the inner tie rods from rusting and corroding.


Even after I presented them with a printout from their website showing their part number the conversation went like this:
Autozone Employee - "I don't know what this is??"
I said- "It is a part number from your website that says you should have one in stock.."
ignorant AZ employee - "Well what car is it for??"
me-"a '91 Eagle Talon TSI AWD.. "
ignorant AZ employee- " We wont have one for that.."
me-"Please just get me this part number and let me see it!"
ignorant AZ employee- "ok" (mumbles something about waste of time)

about 5 minutes later he returns with what looks to be a perfect match for what I have been asking them for the last 2 days..

1) it ticks me off that they didn't know they had it..
2)any mechanic worth anything would know that its a good idea to replace the boots when you replace the inner tie rod ends because a bad boot causes a bad tie rod end... why they didn't suggest replacing it and know that they had it angers me ( I knew that it needed replaced just figured they would know they have it)

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

Old thread but figured I post here rather then starting a new thread. I just replaced my inner tie rod and got the bellows boot (Pep Boys has the boot for $30). Anyways the end of the boot that goes over the steering rack is the exact same size as the steering rack (i.e. impossible to get the boot over the steering rack) the part number printed on the boot is MB 350581. Is this the right bellows boot?

 

[9!'clipseDOHC]

I searched that part number on JNZ tunings OEM parts page and came up with this: Part number mb350581 was superseded by part number MB501711.

MB501711 came back to the following vehicles:
Steering - Steering gear & linkage - Inner tie rod boot
Inner tie rod boot, expo, expo lrv - power 1995 - 1996
Inner tie rod boot, galant, dohc 1994
Inner tie rod boot, expo, expo lrv - power 1992 - 1994
Tie rod boot, eclipse - power 1990 - 1994
Tie rod boot, diamante - power 1995 - 1996
Tie rod boot, mirage - power 1995 - 1996
Tie rod boot, mirage, left - manual 1995 - 2002
Tie rod boot, all models - power, rack and pinion 1987 - 1990
Tie rod boot, galant, mirage - power 1987 - 1988
Tie rod boot, galant, mirage - power 1985 - 1986
Tie rod boot, diamante - power 1992 - 1994
Tie rod boot, galant - power, 4-wheel steering 1991 - 1992
Tie rod boot, sigma - power, 2-wheel steering 1989 - 1993
Tie rod boot, galant - power, 2-wheel steering 1989 - 1993
Tie rod boot, mirage - power, 2-wheel steering 1989 - 1994
Tie rod boot, mirage, left - manual 1989 - 1994
Tie rod boot, 3000 gt - power 1991 - 1994
Tie rod boot, 3000 gt - power 1995 - 1999

So it looks like it is the correct bellows boot. Guess I'll go try some more. Also just to note, JNZ carries it for $20.96.

 

[hypergenesis]

Just a heads up to anyone looking for these Bellows,

Rock auto also has them for around 8$ each instead of the 20$ listed above. Just some other information towards them.

 

[dewoof01]

Just for future searches, got my replacement at NAPA, nearly exact to the OEM, around $14-16 dollars, they had to order it but it was in the next day. Don't remember the part number and threw the box away.

 

[matt50317]

Just because Auto zone didn't offer them back than, doesn't mean they dont offer them now..... Most likely there either wasn't a high enough demand for them at the time, or they weren't available through Autozone yet.