DIY Tie Rod end Replacement Lessons Learned
 

I have been diligently working to get my 80SC back on the road after a long hiatus. It seems that when I tore my car apart in 2003, I purchased two tie rod ends (Ball Joints) along with other suspension items with the intention of replacing the worn tie rod ends. Fast forward to yesterday, I finally was able to look at going through the front and rear suspension and changing the ride height to European specs. I did look at the tech articles and the posts on doing the tie rod end and turbo tie rod replacement and apparently I did not get the jest of how this is removed and re-installed. But, I did understand that it can be a real pain in the ASS. You might ask, why did he not just go and install the turbo tie rods? Well at an additional cost of plus $175 versus the $33 bucks previously spent for the tie rod ends, I decided to salvage what I have on the car and go the least costly option. Granted, The turbo tie rods do look sweet and when these tie rod ends die I will go that route. The couplings between the tie rod and steering rack and the steering rack boots are in my opinion still in good shape and are functional. the rubber inserts do not look worn or deteriorated even for the age of the car. It should be noted that I drive the car for pleasure and I am not looking to increase its performance and I do not track it.

The one thing I would have like to have seen in the posts were more pictures of the process of doing this job. As you will see that I did not fully understand how to remove the tie rod ends from the tie rod. My first attempts lead to pure frustration and several hours time wasted with no progress. Several Gin and Tonics and a good nights sleep gave me the courage to try again.

This is the drivers side and it doesn't look too scary. At this point it would be a good idea to take some sort of measurement. I decided on counting the remaining threads that are visible to the locking nut. i.e. Drivers side tie rod end = 5 threads visible, Steering rack side = 4 1/2 threads visible. It is not perfect but for my purposes it will work since the car will be going for a complete alignment. I also sprayed the connections with BP blaster. One other thing take note of the orientation of the bolt/ castle nut on the end connecting to the steering rack. I installed mine in the same position as they were removed.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408330303.jpg

Removing the ball joint from the steering yoke was a piece of cake using a ball joint fork and the BFH. Naturally, this destroys the rubber and in my case it was destroyed previously when I striped the car down to the frame in 2003.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408330682.jpg

At this point, I tried to remove the tie rod end from the tie rod, unfortunately I was too stupid to realize that the nut was a locking nut and not a part of the tie rod itself. so I buggered up the nut and decided I was definitely doing something wrong or the nightmare of seized threads was going to prevent me from moving forward. In my reading it was noted that you can remove the boot and disconnect the tie rod from the steering rack. That was my next step, I figured when the tie rod is out of the car I can figure out how to salvage the assembly.

The next step is to remove the spring that is around the end of the boot. I just so happened to have an old small blade screw driver that I had bent into a hook and filed the edges to give a rounded edge on the end. It easily hooked the spring and I was able to pull it out of its seat. At this point the rubber boot is easily pulled back by hand.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408331016.jpg

As mentioned in previous posts by others I used a dull chisel and a BFH to loosen the locking ring from the steering rack. Take note of the threads so you don't hammer the lock nut on tighter.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408331830.jpg

This is the assembly removed from the car, as you can see I eventually was able to release the locking nuts while the assembly was on the car but the threads were frozen so I had to remove the whole assembly. The buggered nut is visible on the tie rod end that I damaged the day before, Not good, but I will clean it up before it goes back in.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408332363.jpg

with the assembly in a vise and the locking nuts loose I needed to use a vise grip and a socket wrench extension to break the frozen threads free from both ends of the tie rod.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408333120.jpg

Re-assembly started with the steering rack connector to the tie rod, I cleaned and lubricated the threads and set the lock nut with 4 1/2 threads visible. Then, I screwed it back onto the steering rack. Do not install the tie rod end at this time because it gets in the way of screwing the tie rod onto the steering rack. Verify the orientation of the bolt/castle nut is the same as before you removed it. Next, tighten the locking nut to the steering rack with the dull chisel and BFH. recheck the alignment of the bolt/castle nut mine kept moving as I tightened the locking nut. My fix was to back up the bolt/castle nut from it final position so when it did move it moved to the correct orientation with the lock nut tight.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408333552.jpg

Re-install the rubber boot over the lock nut on the steering rack and then reinstall the spring using he hook to pull it over the lip as you hold the spring in position.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408334595.jpg

Lubricate the tie rod end threads then add the lock nut before threading it into the tie rod. I set the locknut to the tie rod with 5 threads showing. Remove the white protective cover before installing the tie rod end into the steering yoke. torque the castle nut to spec and insert new cotter pin into castle nut.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408334779.jpg

This is the completed drivers side tie rod assembly and it will be easy for the alignment shop to do their job without having to add additional cost for parts because they couldn't adjust the tie rod do to it being frozen solid.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1408335167.jpg


Hopefully, this will make life easier for anyone else who is contemplating doing the job but have never done it before.

Congrats on perseverance

Subscribed

Pending repair on our car.

Additional Lessons learned
 

Yesterday, I removed the stock tie rod assembly from my 78 SC and replaced it with the turbo tie rod set. All went very smoothly following all the great threads and 101 projects directions UNTIL it came time to "slip" the rubber boot over the inner steering rack. Maybe it was just me -- but I struggled for nearly an hour until I got it on. My arms fell asleep and I nearly gave in. Finally -- success. As is common once you figure it out, the second one took me 3 minutes.

Tricks?

1. Coat the inner lip of the rubber boot with a bit of grease or vasoline to help it slip on.

2. Compress the entire bellows towards the inner side and steering rack so that the spring in the rubber bellows can help you apply pressure on the part it needs to slip over. While holding the compressed bellows against the steering rack end, grab the lip of the rubber bellows with a pair of needle nose pliers -- I think angled pliers are best.

3. Pull hard and stretch the rubber with the pliers to drag some of the boot up over the rack end and then -- with the hand that is holding the compressed bellows, rotate the bellows. About a 180 degree rotation got it for me. You might need to try again a few times but -- don't give up. It is possible to do this.

I secured the inner ends with the springs and the outer ends with a cable tie as others have suggested.

Sorry no pics but I had my hands full. Hope this helps someone.

BTW -- on the castle nut, I just tightened it until I could get the cotter pin in there. I know there is a torque spec of 33 ft lbs, but it seems to me that you would not want to leave a gap between the castle nut and the cotter pin. Someone please correct me if I am wrong and I will fix it.

Thanks

Brad

Brad.
You want to draw up the tapered area of the end into the tapered hole of the steering arm. Dont worry about the castle nut lining up. you can always washer up the contact surface or cut the notches a little deeper.