Tie rod lock nut - turns which way?

[porschenut]

I'm staring at the lock nut between the tie rod and the steering rack, trying to figure out which way to turn it to loosen it. Should I pretend I'm unscrewing it from the steering rack, or from the tie rod? In other words, should I hammer on the notches so it loosens in the same direction of the tie rod itself, or the other way?

[burgermeister]

Hammer on the notches?

You mean the attachment of the tie rod to the rack itself, I assume.

I believe it's a normal RH thread both sides going into the rack. But it's been a year ...

I think a better plan would be to remove the boot and get a wrench on the exposed part of the rack as backup (it has nice flats), and use a pipe wrench on the oddball lock nut. The internals of the steering rack are not really set up to handle huge torques, especially not hammer-induced.

[Snowboard888]

When viewing the tie rod from the side of the car, you what to hammer the notches in a counter clockwise rotation the same direction the tie rod unscrews.

[DRACO A5OG]

Facing in towards the car from the side:

Driver side the jam nut goes down to loosen

Passenger side jam nut goes up to loosen ( caution keep thumb out of the way )

You should hold the tie rod at the raised notches with a wrench so you do not damage the grease seals at the joint. Use some penetrating spray

You should NEVER BE HAMMERING on our cars to remove a nut or bolt. Dang it Dave, you know this :-/

[Porsche 2]

The tie rods are identical and thus loosening the lock nut is like a normal thread, ant-clock direction to loosen. Then, obviously, turn the rod in (tighten) to reduce the tie-rod length, and visa-versa. Agree, nothing to hammer, and hold the rod when loosening/tightening the lock nut.

[john walker's workshop]

Just look at the angle of the threads. You'll figure it out.