Replacing tie rod?

Took my car for an alignment today, was told the inner tie rod needs to be replaced because it's getting difficult to turn. Quote was $225, just want to check if this is reasonable, Car had 75k miles and this was my first time been told about replacing tie rod.

Sounds like a suspicious diagnosis, the inner tie rod doesn't have much to do with turning effort.

 

good vid

Probably meant "turn" as in "adjust". If that's the case, soak it in PB Blaster to melt the rust off. It's not like you need to regularly run a tie rod through its full range, so as long as they didn't round off the lock nut, you're probably in good shape.

They're lying and being lazy. Living in the North East these things happen. Map gas or acetylene can fix the problem and not cost you a dime. The inner tie-rod does turn because it's a ball in socket and threaded on the other end which goes into the outer tie-rod. The toe adjustment is made by loosening the jamb nut and turning the inner tie-rod. I've done thousands of alignments and have never once replaced inner tie-rods due to "being hard to turn".

usually when the inner tie rod fails, it becomes easier to turn (too much slop in the joint) - haven't really seen/heard of one have the joint lock up... just clean up the threads if that's their issue (wire brush, etc.)

And the ball and socket of the inner tie rod is behind the bellows on the end of the rack, its shouldn't be getting rusty or dirty in there.