Hello. I'm not sure if I should post this here but, recently I've wanted to replace my stock tie rod ends to tighten things up but noticed that people are saying the ZJ tie rod is much stronger. I don't really go off road (my jeep is stock) but would assume the stronger ZJ tie rod will give less play and tighten things up even more for the road. I'm debating on picking one up from the junkyard.

My question is, it appears that the ZJ tie rod has only one replaceable tie rod end. I was planning on just replacing both tie rod ends on the ZJ one to make sure they are brand new and tight. But you have to buy a brand new bar if the fixed tie rod end has play in it? I was hoping to do this as cheaply as possible. Does the fixed tie rod end ever develop play in it? Or were the manufacturers counting on you buying a whole new bar just to replace one of the ends?

So should I just keep the original tie rod and replace the ends and be done with it? Looking for confirmation that you have to buy a whole new bar to fix one of the tie rod ends. This will end my upgrade because I'm cheap .

 

You don't have to buy a new bar....just the bar ends