Hey guys,

Working on my wifes 02 Millenia (2.5L), had some bad shimmy and found alot of play in my right tie rod end and both lateral links. Ordered Raybestos brand.

While I was in there I found some more play in the upper leading links. I can't find an aftermarket brand that makes these. Does anyone know of any? I know ROCA USA makes the ones for 95-00 but non for my 02. Only part I can find is Mazda T060-34-D00A

Since there is no adjustment to these can I replace the lateral links and tie rod end and get an alignment and in a few weeks install the leading links without another alignment?

 

the short answer is yes. however, the upper link(ball joint points DOWN) are cheap. go to tascaparts.com, they are a mazda dealer, and have the best prices on the web. i think they also have the very best service. roca is chinese, and while i have used their stuff, generally if the price of genuine is close, i get genuine. also, our 2 cars are 15 years old, and some of the parts are starting to disappear. if you are changing out tie rod ends, and the center link(ball joint points UP), you must do an alignment. changing out the upper links is only about 130(ship+handling) more, i would do it all at once, just to be sure. be very careful of the 2 nuts that hold the inner part of the link to the body(14mm wrench size). they will be ON there, and if you break off one of the studs, you are done. you cannot replace that stud. start early by using a lot of a good penetrant(i like kroil) for several days prior, and you can also try loosening them and/or working them loose. if the nuts dont move, do whatever you can, even cut them off if you have to, you MUST save those studs. also, if you change out the tie rod ends, change out the rack boots, too. genuine rack boots are a lot more expensive than the aftermarket, BUT, you can CLEARLY see the difference in quality. multi link suspension is very good, but when one component goes, it generally affects other components. i have changed out a lot on the suspension, both front and rear. you should also inspect the sway bar endlinks, they do not last. if you are changing out the center link yourself, where it bolts to the inner xmber is tough, you will have to drop the center xmber a bit, and this supports the engine. you can do this by SLOWLY loosening the bolts that hold it to the frame, just enough so that the xmbr clears. then you can pull the bolt that holds the inner part of the link, which also adjusts camber. on ebay, there is a genuine right side link for sale for about 46 bucks, which is a killer price. inspect ALL of your suspension, especially the ball joint dust boots. on both our cars, the rear suspension had all the dust boots cracked and leaking grease. and the parts for just one car rear suspension is well over a grand, and there also has to be alignment.

i have worked at a dealer(not mazda) and a couple of independents, then i went into parts, and worked for a long time at a direct importer of parts. most people nowdays STILL think that quality is the same, therefore, go for cheap. 30 years ago, this was ok. nowdays, the market is flooded with aftermarket parts, almost all from third world countries. these countries have little to no quality control, and no copyright laws. a lot of their parts are made to deceive, and will not stand the test of time. i am also amazed at how people will listen to an aftermarket parts counterman, who has little to no knowledge about the car you have, over a seasoned counterman at a dealer. the dealer counterman has handled more parts for your car in ONE DAY than an aftermarket counterman has in a year. the bottom line is profit. in the aftermarket, profit ALWAYS trumps quality and fit. the millenia is a low production car. most aftermarket parts suppliers do not know there is a difference between up to my 01, and 01 my and later. they will group all the parts together. you will not find out until the part is being installed. on a sunday. and the car has to be used for work on monday. it is even WORSE between the 2.3 and the 2.5. and, contrary to what most people think, an aftermarket parts store CANNOT supply you with all the parts on your car, only a small amount. also, if you walk into a dealer, and buy a part over the counter, you will pay a LOT more than if you shop the web, and have it shipped to you. here's another thought: if the aftermarket part is only 29.95 vs genuine at 49.95(.95 or .99 always makes me suspicious), and your wife/daughter/son who drives the car is not worth the extra 20 bucks, by all means, get the cheap one.

 

Yeah Tasca is so far the cheapest I found. Already got the lateral links out without dropping the sub-frame.

Those body mount studs are what concern me as I've seen someone else post about shearing theirs off. Good thing is we are in the south so this car hasn't seen much salt.

BTW what does the leading link do? Help with forward/backward movement of the knuckle?

 

Yeah the first tie rod end I bought was Moog (had good luck with them in the past for my Ford Ranger). It turned out to be a reboxed CTR Korea brand. Didn't even have holes drilled for the cotter pin.

 

Update: So I went to pull apart where I remembered an 02 was recently placed on the lot. Good thing about millenia's is that they don't get torn into as bad since they are on the rare side.

Anyway I pulled both leading links off of it and the ball joints were so tight they felt new, only issues are the boots are torn to shreds. Got both for 18 bucks.

Tomorrow I'm gonna pick up some energy suspension dust covers to replace them. So 25 bucks for OEM LL in decent shape was a whole lot better than 130-140.

 

one of the people in the other millenia forum changed all of his dust boots to those, and they all came off. i had posted that i was planning to do that, and he posted back that the es boots wont stay on. the dust boots are easy to change, but i used all genuine. they are not difficult to remove, and i took the new dust boot to home depot, and found a short piece of pvc that fit perfectly around the boot, but not the lip. i used this as a tool to install the boot. really easy

 

Is the metal ring/lip part of the boot? Do I just hammer this piece off?

 

it has a metal kinda like a wound spring. also, because of time, it is like it was glued on. i just used a screwdriver to pry it off, but i used it sideways, like 90 deg from the regular way you would use a screwdriver. i started with a small screwdriver till i got it started, then a bigger one, and it came off pretty easily. grease the new one going on, might have to tap it with a plastic hammer. when the boot is off, you will be able to see if it is really still tight, or if it is tight because of rust. also, depending on how it was removed, make sure the castle nut will screw on, because depending on how it was removed, the threads might be ruined.