I think I have come to the point where there is no available inner tie rods for my '04 D 5.7l 4x4. There is a possibility that I can get the larger threaded inner tie rod and have it machined by the local machine shop, but this leads to a safety concern. So my best option is to replace the entire rack and pinion which comes with the inner tie rods.

Has anyone else undertaken this task? I have found out that the book time on this particular job is about 2.5hrs. So I would expect the job to take me at least double that in a garage on jack stands.

Opinions welcome.