Tie rods and steering rack questions

[ryanprins13]

So, having some issues with new tie rod ends which leads me to ask a few questions.
Festiva manual steering rack and knuckes. I have 2 festivas. Both have one inner tie rod end thats longer than the other by 1 1/2inch or so.
The old festiva would steer sharper one way than the other but i never tried the new one.
New tie rod ends i got are both long.
Listings i see say the right and left inner rods are the same.
So, is the steering rack centred in the car? Does one side need to be longer than the other for steering to be centred? Or should they both be the same length?
Are there actually different inner tie rods for right and left?
Thanks.

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[firebush357]

I just ordered some Moog inner and outer tie rods from Rockauto and there wasn't a left and right side option. That is the only information that I can give you because I have not taken mine apart yet.

[FestYboy]

There is no left/right for tierods, ever. For any vehicle. What happened to your car was a wrong part was installed and then the steering wheel was recentered to compensate. This would cause you to hit the lock prematurely on one side.

That job was not done by a mechanic or technician, but by a parts swapper.... I hate parts swappers. Mostly because they choose to remain ignorant.

[Dragonhealer]

^+1, and yes, the rack is centered. If you swap to a Rio rack, you'll end up being off by .030 inch, not enough to worry about.

[ryanprins13]

Thanks guys. I had never seen a vehicle with different tie rod ends side to side before but when both my festivas did i suddenly wasnt sure...

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