tie rod ends

[cogcaviz24]

This may be a dumb question but are the front and rear tie rod ends interchangeable? They look very similar, and the price at the parts stores makes it seem the fronts are made of gold? I boogered mine up, trying to removing them from the knuckle

[Fierofool]

My experience is that there's a different part number on front and rear of the 86.  If it's a different part number, probably not interchangeable, though I haven't tried to see, I just bought what was listed as the correct part.  The higher price could be because that part isn't widely used on other vehicles and may be limited to just a few applications.

[cogcaviz24]

Thanks Charles, I figured as much but I thought I'd ask those with more experience with fiero's.

My car is kicking my dad and my butt. But is to be expected on a car of this age, especially since it seems most of the nuts bolts we encounter have never been touched since the factory installed them. The results of our labor will be worth it, though. We have replaced every worn part in the suspension, poly all around, new kyb strut/shocks, ball joints, and cut 1 & a half off the springs. The original shocks/struts provided some laughs when we pushed down & they didn't come up and pulling them up was dang near impossible.

[TopNotch]

The original shocks/struts provided some laughs when we pushed down & they didn't come up and pulling them up was dang near impossible.

That's the way a good shock is supposed to work. Little resistance going down, and a lot of resistance going up. That's how they keep your springs from bouncing.
If you mean that, with the springs, they still wouldn't go up, then that's bad.

[cogcaviz24]

There was no resistance down, and would not come back up on their own. I pretty sure they have never been changed during the life of the car

[TopNotch]

There was no resistance down, and would not come back up on their own. I pretty sure they have never been changed during the life of the car

By themselves (without the springs) they shouldn't come back on their own, unless they are gas shocks/struts. Even then, the gas could have leaked out over time, but the shocks/struts may still be useful.