Inner Tie-rod squeaking creaking after new steering rack installed

2002 Golf TDI 2door. The original steering rack finally started leaking too much to keep in service so I purchased a used rack from wrecker for $90. $200 installing it in the car only to find out it was NFG!

Went to my local parts dealer and picked up a Cardone reman for $400 and another $200 for removing and installing again! Lesson learned about that particular wrecker!

So the "new" steering rack is working fine and doesn't leak BUT it is making a creaking/squeaking sound with suspension movement. The alignment guy narrowed it down to the inner tie-rod ball joint that attached directly to the rack under the boot. The passenger side is squeaking that drivers side he said is very tight (as in was difficult to turn the inner for alignment purposes).

This pisses me off to say the least! I emailed Cardone and they said to talk to the retailer that sold me the rack. They're just gonna say bring it back and we'll give you another one, that's just gonna cost another day and $200 to swap it again.

So on the question....

I'm planning on hoisting the car, popping out the outer tie-rod ends and cutting off the small boot clamp and sticking some sort of lubricant with a straw on the end to shoot some lube into that ball and socket and work it around hoping they will loosen up. Which lubricant is recommended?? I have lithium, LPS greaseless, moly chain lube, etc.

OR

Should I slide the boot off entirely and grease it with CV grease?

If you can't reseal the boot with the oem style clamp I think you will have bigger issues down the road that will vpid your rack warranty.

Can you talk them into replacing just the offending inner rod? That is easier than swapping the rack.

I should have added that I would be replacing the small clamp with a proper OE oetiker clamp after lubricating inner end. Just looking for ideas on which lube to use and what would be the best way to do it. If I find the inner joint is completely screwed, I'll just purchase replacement inners. They sound like they just need lubricating though. Thanks for the response!

They should be greased up, if not I think regular grease would do seeing as there not under extremes of heat or that. I used jubilee clips on my boots last time, learnt the hard way that cab;e ties just don't cut it.

For Closure...

This turned out to be a bad inner tie-rod. I tried regreasing but that was not the issue. I finally just changed the inner tie-rod and once I popped the outer, it was obvious there was some sort of manufacturing issue on the ball and socket at the inner side. Swapped it out and problem was resolved. Downside, was that even though I counted rotations when removing and replacing the outer tie-rod, the car still required an alignment.

Cardone is Chinese. Never used them. Racks are usually not a major issue. I wouldn't be too hard on the wrecking yard. The tie rods, on the other hand are a regular item, especially the outer tie rod ends. We use name-brand and don't get burned by the CRAP.

Thank you for posting back Closure!
Salvage yards don't do much in the way of parts inspection, they do usually guarantee for replacement. It's been a while since I did mine, but it was like $220 US. No idea what it was, I had to do it overnight and just went to the local chain store. But it's not uncommon for mechanics to mark up parts costs.

Franko6 said:

Cardone is Chinese. Never used them. Racks are usually not a major issue. I wouldn't be too hard on the wrecking yard. The tie rods, on the other hand are a regular item, especially the outer tie rod ends. We use name-brand and don't get burned by the CRAP.

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Yeah, it was a monetary decision to go with Cardone. At the time, I didn't have as many option as I do now where I am and I needed the car back. I knew it was chinese but it's like half the price of OE and I was nervous about trying another used one. When installed, I did have the mechanic remove and replace outers with Febi. When I pulled outers to diagnose the squeak, I replaced the entire rod (inner and outer) with Lemforder. No problems since. Thanks for the input.