Tie rods come in five pieces per side. The inner and outter tie rod ends, the two clamps and then the inner connecting rod. Usually, it is the inner/outter tie rod ends that go bad, as in the ball sockets.

 

yeah you can take it totally off to work on it. much easier then laying under the truck. might want to start spraying that stuff down with penetrating oil too. also when you go to get new tie rods bring them up to the parts store, due to push pull steering design of these trucks you usually end up confusing the people at autozone when you try to explain where the tie rod is, especially if its one off the gear box itself

and that shock you can take off your axle or take off the steering arm. doesnt really matter. check that shock too to see if its functioning properly. it should be kinda stiff to move if it has flat spots or moves really easy its junk

 

right