Chrysler: NAPA comes thru again

Took my '99 Concorde in for a 4-wheel alignment today after completing
some suspension maintenance. The tech brought me a broken grip piece
from the tie rod (toe adjuster) sleeve and said he couldn't set the toe
in until that part was replaced (though I had never personally messed
with it, I had noticed that that piece looked awfully rough, with one of
the two grip tabs already missing, so no surprise when the tech reported
the problem to me).

I was happey to find a replacement at NAPA - much better design than the
OEM sleeve. OEM is a knurled hollow sleeve that forces the tech to use
either channel locks or vice grips to make the adjustment - no wonder it
fell apart after 4 years of alignments. The aftermarket replacement is
also a hollow sleeve as dictated by the design, but has a nice big hex
grip instead of the knurls - infinitely more robust. Chrysler could
learn a thing or two from some of these aftermarket designs (I know - it
might cost a couple of cents more to do it right, then they couldn't
compete in the marketplace). 8^)

Just thought I'd pass that along in case any of you have the sleeve come
apart on you. I plan on replacing both right and left sleeves tomorrow
(and taking in Monday to finish the alignment), even though only one is
broken - that will eliminate such surprises on future alignments and
make the job easier for the techs.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")


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