Thanks all. The state police, which oversee the safety inspections said that the only way to question the station's rejection was to schedule a trooper to inspect it independently -- yeah right, I'm gonna opt for THAT! I have a separate post in general section about wheel noise after new tires that turned out to be brake pads worn to nothing (which ironically DIDN'T fail the inspection...go figure). Another station (after another $16) may not have failed me for the tie rods but certainly would have for the brakes!

So, since I was in the wheel well anyway for the brakes I just replaced the inner and outer tie rods, too. The inner did seem to have a little looseness to it when I got it apart but I sure couldn't see the tire move -- and certainly not the 1/4" the regulations require before it fails. oh well...

Thanks to several great posts here, was a pretty easy job though. Only problem is that now my steering wheel is cockeyed. Will the alignment fix this? I think I got the new tie rods pretty close to the old ones because on a test drive I don't notice any problems such as vibration or pulling. Another thread on the subject says it's usually an extra fee to straighten the steering wheel when an alignment is done. What did I do wrong to take the steering wheel off center anyway?

thanks, ggaarryy