Breaking Loose Outer Tierod ends

[gregB]

Anyone have any tips or hints on how to break them loose. Just did a front wheel bearing, and had to pull the spindle because the ABS sender bolt snapped off. Got that all back together again, so I figured before I had the front end checked I would replace the rack boots, they are both shot. But I could not break loose the outer tie rod.

 

Any tricks before I get out the fire wrench and nut splitter?

 

Greg

[Turbone]

The nut on top the ball joint wont come off?

Or you cant get the ball joint off the hub fitting?

 

I usually go the caveman method and give the hub casing a couple of whacks where the ball joint fits in.

If the ball joint spins while trying to remove the nut, try tapping the bottom up so the ball joint seats deeper.

[idosubaru]

if you got heat - use it. heat up the outer quickly and then quickly try to loosen it while it's hot and the inner that's threaded into it is not yet.

 

put a wrench on the nut that's on the inner tie rod holding it tight to the outer and then the outer has a flat spot on it for a wrench as well. use those to crank away.

 

i am guessing you probably already tried that.

 

definitely put some heat on it - that should get it to come off.

 

typically don't have a lot of room to work with but get a good bite with a wrench and then interlock it with another wrench for leverage - so you're torquing it with two wrench lengths so to speak, i'm sure you know that trick.

 

should be able to get the other one to rest/secure against a sway bar or something like that.

 

i feel like maybe i've even used a plumbers wrench/monkey wrench before as well.

[gregB]

Gary,

 

Sort off half tried all those yesterday. Have not tried heat yet. Have been hitting it with PB Blaster. Today I am scrounging longer metric wrenches for more leverage. also a metric flarre nut wrench for the nut and inner tie rod shaft. May have to resort to my moster pipe wrenches to get the leverage to hold it still. Not a very good angle just off the ground on jackstands. At least its on a cool concrete floor, and its nice enough outside to drive the convertable

[Rooster2]

Gary,

 

Sort off half tried all those yesterday. Have not tried heat yet. Have been hitting it with PB Blaster. Today I am scrounging longer metric wrenches for more leverage. also a metric flarre nut wrench for the nut and inner tie rod shaft. May have to resort to my moster pipe wrenches to get the leverage to hold it still. Not a very good angle just off the ground on jackstands. At least its on a cool concrete floor, and its nice enough outside to drive the convertable

 

I have had good luck using the monster pipe wrench slid onto a wrench, or if there is enough room slide the pipe wrench onto the handle of your drive or breaker bar. The longer bar gives amazing leverage. I have broken wrenches and drives doing this, but I didn't care. Usually, this approach gets the nut to break loose. Having PB Blaster work its magic over night helps too.

[UMT]

I had a similar problem. Bent a breaker bar. Rented a compressor and air gun and that didn't work. (Decent sized compressor too) Took a shot at renting an ELECTRIC impact wrench and those suckers come off in a jiffy...

 

You can buy one fairly reasonable from Harbor Freight or rent one at a hardware store for about 20.00 a day. (or less) I now own one.

 

Good luck.

 

UMT

[Rooster2]

I had a similar problem. Bent a breaker bar. Rented a compressor and air gun and that didn't work. (Decent sized compressor too) Took a shot at renting an ELECTRIC impact wrench and those suckers come off in a jiffy...

 

You can buy one fairly reasonable from Harbor Freight or rent one at a hardware store for about 20.00 a day. (or less) I now own one.

 

Good luck.

 

UMT

 

I have an electric impact wrench that I bought from Harbor Freight. It works great. It uses half inch size drive sockets. Pretty cheap, I paid maybe $50.

[1-3-2-4]

I think when I did mine on the legacy I used heat and PB blaster after that it started to come off.

[johnceggleston]

i could not loosen the lock nuts on my 97 OBW . i tried PBlaster and all the wrenches in my box. so i called and ask a local service shop how much for replacing both steering bellows, which was my goal.

 

parts, $30 a side, labor , $30 a side. so i had them do it. i think the pb blaster i had been spraying on it helped. but i really think having the car on a lift and being able to put 36 inches of leverage on it was the big thing. have 6 feet of working room in stead of 16inches, makes a big difference.

[gregB]

Got one side done last night. Used a long 13mm openend that was resting on the drive axle. Put the 19mm flarenut wrench on the lock nut. Then hooked a long 19mm box wrench on to the other end of the flare wrench. A couple of grunts later it was loose. Tie rod end was a breeze. marked and counted turns before I removed it. The boot was real "fun" to install over the Rack housing channel. Used a tie wrap instead of the wimpy spring clamp.

 

The GT is back on all fours Well tonight I jack up the other corner for the other boot.

[idosubaru]

 

not sure if they're all the same, but the ones i've done the drivers side boot is always the most annoying to get seated/clamped right. hopefully that's the one you already did. either way, they're usually about the same, one side just needs a little more wrestling, not a big deal.

[gregB]

Did the passenger side Rack boot yesterday. I turned the wheel so I was not trying to stretch the boot, Jumped right into place.

 

Next fix is the leaks around the Rack from Power streering? FLuid drips are sort of red color. I seem to remember a posting about replacing o-rings ?

 

At the hose ends?

[89Ru]

Leaks that appear down around the rack can be up high from a leaky o-ring between the tank and the steering pump. Get the o-ring from the dealer, don't try one that's close, it may fit fine but it will leak.