Hi, I have a 2004 Intrepid that runs excellently, it has 102,000 miles. Wife drives it and noticed yesterday that something was not right. I forgot about it and today she came home again and reminded me. Well I got in the car for a test drive and was fine when we pulled out of the driveway and down the road a bit, then she accellerated a little to about 35 and the whole car started to wobble. Felt like side to side. She says the steering wheel is jumping up and down like going over speed bumps, not side to side. I did a quick check of the lugs and tire surfaces and stabilizer and tie rods, cv joints,...just a visual before it got dark here. Nothing looked suspicious. Any ideas? It does not do it at idle and is only intermittent while driving, it is not related to the brakes.

Inner tie rod bushings? Those are common.

SWAG (wild guess) Ball Joints or belt shift (tire). I'm not an expert though. Someone smarter than me will be along...

good luck

IIRC the K frame bushings go bad also.Had a few at work and there wasnt any bushings left.Just the large washers and the bolt.Rocky

Well my WAG would be CV joint. Inner tie rods will make a rattle sound when hitting a bump or small pot hole. You can also feel it in the strg whl. Ball joints would be about the same except you won't fell it in the wheel.
front cross member mounts will thump when hitting pot holes. But won't cause the car to wobble side to side.

I would look a the tires very closely first. Then check CV joints. If that is all good. Look at the rack & pinion mounts.

You can pop the tie rods out as assemblies. Dig out what's left of the old bushings, shove in new one, and slap 'em back on.
Getting them lined up again can be a real trick. The boot on the rack will slide down and cover the holes.

Be sure you get the retaining tabs bent over the heads of the bolts. It would suck to have the bolts back out and let the tie rods fall off.




Everything you need to know can be found here: http://www.dodgeintrepid.net/showthread.php?p=1861497

They are easy to do in the car.No need to remove the outers.Just bend the tabs and unscrew one side at a time.If nothing moves they will pretty much line back up.I did a bunch at work.They come with a new lock for the bolts.I red locktite them.Never had any back out.The first set I did are still on my 96.Rocky

I tried that approach with my 02 Concorde. It didn't turn out so well. I ended up having to pull the assemblies out.

Probally because you didnt change them a lot.Rocky

Yeah it counts.But after say 10 or 20 they get easy.Rocky

Ok, I screwed up. I finally got everything together, but the driver side did not line up. The bolt that goes through the tie rod end was off just enough so I could not push it through to the steering assembly. I took the other side off and still could not get it through. So I turned the steering wheel just a bit and now nothing lines up. It seems there is a metal spacer piece just inside the plastic boot that slides around freely. I cannot get either bolt through that piece and into the steering assembly.

Any Help? I have been working on this for three hours today.

Ok got it!

I guess I was starting to give up a bit. Both sides on now, just need to torgue things down.

Thanks again guys, saved some money today.

Good to hear you got it.

If you didn't put Loctite on the bolts you need to be sure the locking tabs are bent down over flats on the bolt heads.

It would suck to have them back out.

I've also seen the outers not clocked to a neutral position. This must be neutral or the inner will prematurely wear.

They even have a tool for the outers when you do an alingnment.It keeps them in an even plane.We had it at work.Rocky

Thanks FEETS,ROCKY, and everyone else. Wife drove the Dodge to jersey and back yesterday, no issues. I did bend those tabs down, I also drew a reference mark on the nut and the plate with white-out, its a habit that I have. Whenever I open the hood I can quickly keep an eye on things.I forgot to use loctite. I have the red stuff right in the garage too!