(8/22/00): Just thought I'd put up a QUICK page on my tie rod ends... On the first tie rod, I disassembled, the ends came out, fairly easily, BUT one on the other tie rod end did not... I even put it in the vice, and used a MONSTER cheater pipe, and couldn't get it to budge (moved my table more than the tie rod end). SO, I heated it up a little, with a propane torch (didn't want to distort the metal), and finally got it loose. Whoever put tie rod ends in there last, didn't oil them, which caused the threads to rust, and be a royal-pain-in-the-butt to remove (I made sure to oil the new ones). Anyway, I went and got a tap, the right size for the tie rod, and cleared out all the gunk, and rust; Now the tie rod end moves in, and out easily.
This is what one of the tie rods looked Like before I cleaned it up and put the new ends in:
This is what it looked Like after:
In my car, the Center tie rod is a fixed unit (it is a one piece design),
which means that the Tie rod ends are not replaceable nor rebuildable. So,
I had to replace the whole thing. This is the OLD center tie rod (hard to see
with all the rocks): This
is the NEW center tie rod:
That's really it for the tie rods... The next step is to clean any parts
that haven't yet (spindles, some bolts, etc.) and put everything back
together!!!!! (YES, my steering box is DONE, it works GREAT, AND it doesn't
leak its 90W OIL!) Stay
tuned for PART 9!!!!
