How on earth do I get the outer tie rods off the inner ones? There is a 22mm hex bit on the outer rod and the inner one has slightly flattened bits on them that a 13mm spanner fits on but is not really a true hex shape, very rounded corners and such, so it does not grip well and not nearly well enough to get the outer rod un-done. I've been soaking it with WD40 a few times during teh week and it still does not want to budge. Is it meant to be this hard or am I doing something wrong?
I was going to suggest channel locks or vice grips, but a vice is just as good. Use brass shims if you are worried about marring the piece, and also consider a few solid blows with a hammer to loosen it all up before you go medieval on its ass.
Thanks to Graham for calling up and talking me through this, the road grime had built up so solidly on it that the lock nut looked like it was part of the rest of the tie rod end with a smooth shoulder between the two. Once Graham told me what I should have been looking at it all worked out fine. Thanks
Suspension is one of those few areas that respect a bit of medieval-ness in its dissemblance. I remember my first foray into removing a lower control arm of an old BMW E30. "just hit it with a hamer" my mechanic said rather than get a ball joint puller. There I am tentatively hitting it with a hammer to loosen the tapered join. For days it wouldn't budge, Called him up again and he's like "put some effort into it, you won't break anything". So i put the little ball pin hamer away and pull out the little lumpy and with an almighty awkward lying backwards swing, it was off and I was standing with the hamer raised like he-man in front of greyskull. And that my friends is your 6:30am taxi ride home story from me.
LOL at him! The trick to releasing balljoints when giving it a technical tap is not so much brute force but to direct sufficient force into the right area! The secret is to back the other side of the part you are hitting with a heavy dolly. Directly opposite the hit zone is good. This way the part wont deflect when you hit it looing your hard earned energy and what you try to do is to actually physically deform/squash the tapered housing in one direction which breaks the hold of the taper. Even if the dolly is less than 90 degrees from where you intend to clout it will make a huge difference. With some additional load levered downwards on the balljoint shaft with either a balljoint breaker or just a tyre lever, using the nut backed partway off, as a thread protector will ease things considerably. Quite often, just one firm thump with a lump hammer backed up with a dolly of similar weight will instantly loosen the most recalcitrant of ball joint taper!!!!!! Have fun and dont be afraid to hate it! Cheers E
The biggest issue for me is learning what bits can stand a fiar bit of abuse and what bits need extra gentle treatment. I'm getting there but I still occasionally get stuck on something I'm not confident to abuse when I really can or not being quite gentle enough with other things. I thought putting a bit of pine on the tie rod ends and tapping them gently out of the hub was a good idea at the time and even with the hole for the locking wire they looked moderately sturdy but it turned out that that was not the case at all. Still, it's a good way to learn and now I've got a set of adjustable ends on their way.
Never come across anything I could not undo in some way, shape or form. Undoing it in a manner such that it can be done up again later, however, is sometimes a different story...
