When the tie rod ends develops too much play, or becomes damaged, you'll feel it in the steering of your Hyundai Santa Fe. Your crossover SUV just won't track straight and it doesn't improve after an alignment. The only fix is to replace the tie rod ends, and get your vehicle aligned. You can replace the tie rod ends yourself.
Get tie rod ends that are specific to your Hyundai Santa Fe model year. The parts can change from model year to model year, so you don't want to get stuck with parts you can't use.
Undo the clip that closes the cover on the universal joint (located inside the vehicle on the driver's side), and use a wrench to loosen the noise covers.
Remove the bolt that holds the universal joint to the gear box, and separate the universal joint from the gear box.
Loosen the lug nuts on the front tires, but do not remove them. Jack up your Santa Fe and secure it on jack stands. Remove the tires.
Take out the split pin on the tie rod ends, and use a Pitman arm puller to separate the tie rod end and the steering knuckle.
Unscrew the tie rod end from the threaded portion of the tie rod, and make sure you count the number of turns it takes. Write that number down.
Screw on the tie rod end, making sure it takes the same number of turns as it took to remove the original (see Section 1, Step 6).
Slip tie rod end into the steering knuckle, and tighten the nut that secures it to 18 to 25 foot pounds. Slip in a new split pin.
Reconnect the universal joint to the gear box and tighten the bolt to 11 to 14 foot pounds.
Replace the tires, and tighten the lug nuts to 66 to 81 foot pounds. Put the cover back on the universal joint (inside the SUV), and get your Hyundai Santa Fe aligned.
