9 replies to this topic

[EnzoRWD]

I finally got the nut off the bolt on the drivers side. it was a oh yeah!. i backed the bolt almost all of the way off, about 1 thread showing, and it just stuck. the whole thing turned together. i ended up sawing it off, but now have the same issue on the other side. what gives?
also, i can get the outer rod to come off of the inner rods. with my two wrenches, im just rounding off the flats on the inner rods. this is no good. how am i supposed to remove these? i feel like im missing a big point when everyone says its a 40 min job per side, and i fought with it all afternoon only to give up, leaving the car immovable....

[pfeener]

Sounds like you have some major rust issues. Since you didn't mention it, I assume you didn't soak any of the parts with a rust penitent. I would get some PB Blaster at Auto Zone or someplace similar and soak it overnight. Should make a big difference. If worst comes to worst, the liberal use of heat will do the trick for sure. Heat the nut and the tie rod end cherry red and it will turn right off. Now that you've rounded off the nut surfaces, you may need to move to a set of pipe wrenches to get it apart. With long handled pipe wrences you can get a lot more leverage as well. Be careful not to put too much torque on the inner tie rod itself. If you have no heat, you could also use a dremmel tool to cut off the locking nut.

[EnzoRWD]

its soaking in penetrating oil as we speak. im going to liberally soak it w/ pb blaster tomorrow.

im just confused as to why the nut is turning w. the threaded stud on the outer joint. my swaybar endlinks are doing the same thing. how am i to remove the nuts when the whole assembly it turning inside the link???

[pfeener]

On the tie rod end; normally the tie rod is wedged into the steering knuckle extension so tight that it will hold it to take off the nut. Yours was frozen on such that the amount of force needed to remove it caused the whole thing to turn. If that happened to me, I would re-tighten the nut to re-wedge the joint back in place and then I would clean up the threads with a wire brush, soak them real good and try again. (air tools work really good in this situation as well as some heat, but I think soaking it will do it for you)

The sway bar end links are a little different. If you pull back the rubber boot on the link joint you will see some flat surfaces you can put a wrench on to hold them while you remove the nut.

[EnzoRWD]

ok, now im down to the task of removing both outer rods from the inner rods. anyone know what the two sizes are for the flats on the oem rods?
they soaked in PB blaster overnight, no luck. im going to run out and get a torch and see if heat cant persuade them off.....
thanks for all the help so far!

[pfeener]

Just a propane torch may not have enough heat. You might want to pick up a torch that uses Mapp gas. If you can't get it loose, I would get a couple of 18 inch pipe wrenches; mount one on the nut and the other on the tie rod end.

[EnzoRWD]

update: one side is done! the heat plus good ole leverage did the trick. i am getting bigger wrenches + pipes for tomorrow to finish the pass. side.
im putting this here so ppl searching find out how i fixed this
torch + leverage + stubborness

[andrew_the_fox]

good luck sirr

[James100]

i feel like im missing a big point when everyone says its a 40 min job per side, and i fought with it all afternoon only to give up, leaving the car immovable....

When you get done let us know how many hours it turned into to complete your work....

Edited by James100, 14 March 2006 - 06:41 AM.

[EnzoRWD]

as requested, i would say it took close to 8 hrs, off and on, to torch and break the outer tie rods free.
not how it is supposed to go. there is no thread damage or anything, so i chalk it up to corrosion. the car is a 97 and lived through upper midwest winters its whole life....
it getting aligned as we speak. i cant wait to see what difference new tie rod ends, HD swaybar links, and an IPD rear sway make....
ive been driving with no rear sway and no front links! ooops. body roll has got nothin on me now....