If you’re doing alignment work, a tie rod adjusting tool works much better than a pair of Vise-Grips for rotating tie rod adjuster sleeves. The tie rod adjuster can be turned with a 1/2-inch drive ratchet and rotated 360° to change toe alignment.

For vehicles with hex-style tie rods, such as the 1998 and newer Chrysler Concorde, 300M, New Yorker LHS and Dodge Intrepid, a special left-hand toe adjustment tool that resembles a crow foot wrench comes in very handy.

If an outer tie rod end is worn out and needs to be replaced, a tie rod fork or tie rod separator tool will be needed to detach the tie rod from the steering knuckle or MacPherson strut steering arm. On vehicles with rack & pinion steering, removing the inner tie rods may also require a special socket or crow’s foot wrench to loosen the socket from the rack.

Replacing the end bellows on a steering rack is fairly simple, but the clamp that holds the bellows in place usually needs a crimping tool to lock it in place.

On older cars or trucks with recirculating ball steering, the pitman arm may have to come off if the steering box is being replaced. For this job, you’ll need a pitman arm puller. The puller works like any other gear puller, but is designed to slip under the edge of the pitman arm to pull it off the steering box output shaft.

Idler arm play can cause steering wander, looseness and toe wear on the front tires. Measuring play in the idler arm usually...

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