tie rod ends repair

[vegasvic]

I'm changing out the tie rod ends on my 92 K1500, and I'm trying to loosen the nut on the outer tie rod and its stuck. I tried using silicone spray and liquid wrench to no avail. The problem is when I turn the nut, the bolt turns too. There is nothing to grab the bolt with since the other end is the ball in the tie rod. Is there some sort of trick to loosing this nut? Any Ideas?

[2000CAYukon]

I can't remember if the nut is on the top or the bottom. If the nut is on the top, use a floor jack and put some pressure under the tie rod end.

Also, if you have a pickel fork, you can wedge it in a little bit so that you can get the nut off.

The shaft is beveled and in order for it not to spin, you need to apply some pressure on it.

//2000CAYukon

[vegasvic]

Originally Posted by vegasvic

I'm changing out the tie rod ends on my 92 K1500, and I'm trying to loosen the nut on the outer tie rod and its stuck. I tried using silicone spray and liquid wrench to no avail. The problem is when I turn the nut, the bolt turns too. There is nothing to grab the bolt with since the other end is the ball in the tie rod. Is there some sort of trick to loosing this nut? Any Ideas?

Wow!!! I owe you a 12 pack. Putting a jack under it did the trick. Thank you soo much. Now I need to go rent a pickle fork to pry the inner tie rod out. Then I'll need to get the tie rod ends apart from the tie rod shaft. Any thoughts with those. I don't forsee any other problems but any other tips would be apprieciated. Thanks again.

[2000CAYukon]

You can use a hammer to remove the inner tie rod ends; however, you need to be careful. I use a dead blow hammer so that it does not bounce back at you. You have to hit the center link directly underneath where the tierod end connects. It takes a pretty good wack to get them to break loose. A pickle fork is another way to get them off. It still takes a good wack on the pickle fork to break them loose so swing hard.

Once you have the inners off, it is a good idea to measure what you have so you can recreate the same lenght with the new ones. Then stick it in a vise and use a pipe wrench to spin the old tie rods off.

//2000CAYukon

PS My favorite beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

[vegasvic]

Well, I got one side done. On the other side, I got the inner off with a pickle fork, however, the outer will not budge one bit. I've been working on it for four hours and tried every possible way to loosen it. Now I'm going to try to heat it up a bit and see if that will work.

[2000CAYukon]

Originally Posted by vegasvic

Well, I got one side done. On the other side, I got the inner off with a pickle fork, however, the outer will not budge one bit. I've been working on it for four hours and tried every possible way to loosen it. Now I'm going to try to heat it up a bit and see if that will work.

Do you mean that you can't break it loose from the spindle or you can't spin it to get it out of the sleeve?

//2000CAYukon

[ironran]

another way to mark the ends/thread relationship is use whiteout.