Hey guys, so I went and got an alignment done today on my 98 limited (237,000 Miles) and when the mechanics were trying to loosen the inner tie rod (passenger side), the bolt on the tie rod end came out of the socket (hope I'm wording this correctly). I was planning on replacing both the inner and outer tie rods in the near future, but now I had no choice but to get this fixed right then and there. So my question is, should both sides be replaced at the same time? My logic is if one side broke loose, who knows how long it is until the other side does the same. The mechanics insisted that only the passenger side needed to be replaced, but I think there was some miscommunication between us because of language barriers and he wasn't quite understanding what I was asking. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

It doesn't hurt to replace both at the same time, but it is not "necessary"

By your description it's hard to figure out what broke but if the other side isn't worn/loose no need to replace it.