Last week I replaced the passenger side sway bar link and noticed the outer tie rod had allot of play to it so I made plans to replace it this Friday. I took the van in for a state inspection where an inlaw works who I had knew that I was going to replace it. After he pulled me back to look at a wheel bearing that was starting to go bad he showed me how loose the tie rod was and when he tapped on it with a wrench the top part that surrounds the ball popped right off just like that, thankfully it happened in the shop instead of on the road. Hopped down to pep boys and got a new one and he put it on no charge.
