replacing outer tie rod ends - aerostar

Hi

I've never replaced my tie rod ends and plan to do so. I've planed and read that I should do the following. Can someone check this out and offer any further thought?

Take the cotter pin out of the bolt holding the crown nut at the wheel. Remove the crown nut. Hit the tie rod end with a hammer and it will pop off the spindle. Loosen the holding nut on the inner tie rod shaft. Count the number of turns it takes to take the end off. Put on the replacement outer tie rod end and turn it on the same number of times. Tighten the locking nut -- you should get a new one with the tie rod end. Then reattach to the spindle, tighten the crown nut, and put in the cotter pin. Be sure to tighten it to get it to where you can get in the cotter pin; don't loosen it to get the crown nut to align with the hole in the bolt. If the tie rod end has a grease fitting, grease the ball joint.

I plan to have the front end aligned once done.

Any further info would be great!

TIA

Cameron

Reply to
Cameron
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|Hi | |I've never replaced my tie rod ends and plan to do so. I've planed and |read that I should do the following. Can someone check this out and |offer any further thought? | | Take the cotter pin out of the bolt holding the crown nut at the |wheel. Remove the crown nut. Hit the tie rod end with a hammer and it |will pop off the spindle. Loosen the holding nut on the inner tie |rod shaft. Count the number of turns it takes to take the end off. |Put on the replacement outer tie rod end and turn it on the same |number of times.

This won't be accurate. You need to measure. On most cars, it works to measure from the end of the inner tie rod to the exact center of the outer joint. Usually there is a dimple, or a grease fitting or someting at the exact center. Measure each side independently, and install the new one to that overal length.

Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

If you do it wrong, you can pop the tie rod end out and damage your spindle. Use a pickle fork (they have them at most auto parts stores - tie rod and ball joint seperator tools) to get it off, but take Rex's advice about measuring (if you don't have a machinists scale, you can mark with a knife on a piece of wood).

Andrew

Camer>Hi

Reply to
Andrew Paule

snipped-for-privacy@REMOVEtxol.net (Rex B) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.txol.net:

On a tie rod, you can also leave the crown nut on the threads, but sticking up just a touch above them, as a surface to strike with the hammer. Usually, two light/medium taps with the hammer will do it. This keeps the hammer from contacting the spindle, preventing damage to the tapered hole. You can 'string' the vehicle after installation, to make sure you are close enough to not eat the tires up on the way to the alignment shop.

"Stringing" a vehicle After replacement of the tie-rod ends, back the vehicle up 8 to 10 feet, and drive straight forward the same distance to get the vehicle back to ride height. Using a nylon string, tie it to an old cinder block or something heavy placed near the back bumper, so the string is about 1-2" away from the rear wheel. The string needs to cross in front of the wheel at the verticle center. Tie it off in the same manner in the front. Make sure the string is good and taunt. At the rear wheel, measure from the edge of the rim at the rear to the string, measure again at the front of the rear rim to the string. Adjust one end of the string until the measurements are the same. This sets the string to be perpendictular to the rear axle and parallel with the track of the vehicle. Do this for both sides of the vehicle. Go to the front wheels, and adjust the tie rods so that the measurement is the same from the rear of the front wheel to the front of the front wheel. This will get you a Zero toe-in (or very close) and will prevent severe abnormal wear on the tires on the way to the alignment shop.

(Just an old, poor, country-boy trick)

Reply to
Anthony

|> You can 'string' the vehicle after installation, to make sure you are |> close enough to not eat the tires up on the way to the alignment shop.

|I can see where it would work on some 'mobiles, but not others. On some |vehicles (At least two Mercedes models that I can speak of for certain, |others would be speculation), the rear wheel is a bit offset from the |front because the rear axle is longer/shorter than the front axle. That |would flub this method up on those.

No, it works fine. That's why you set the string out from the wheel a bit. All you need to do is get the strings parallel to the rear wheels, then get the front wheels parallel to the strings.

|I can also see where, if they were real careful with the setup and |measuring, a person could get a near-perfect-to-spec toe setting if they |felt like going to the effort of doing it.

Road racers and autocrossers have been doing this since the late paleolithic. Done carefully, an aligment rack is not needed. Most of us make up a tubing frame work that bolts to the car at each end. Fishing line attaches to the outriggers at each corner. You want the strings close to the wheel center height.

| If needed, camber could also |be set (if it's adjustable on the vehicle) with a minor variation - |Namely, a plumb-bob with the string running vertical, then measure to |string at top and bottom instead of at front and rear. Same plumb-bob |and string just MIGHT let you do caster, too...

Not likely. it's hard to get an accurate measurement from a suspended string. You buy a camber gauge for $40-$50 Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

*D'OH* Brain-farted bigtime on that part, didn't I? You're right, of course: Parallel is parallel, regardless of how wide the space between the lines happens to be. If I'd been thinking a bit more, I would have realized that for myself...

Tell that to the mason who taught me how to lay a *DEAD STRAIGHT* and

*PERFECTLY* vertical concrete block wall using two strings, a tape measure, and a plumb-bob.... Don't take my word for it, though... Go to 3827 Jefferson Avenue in Midland, Michigan, and check the straightness/verticality of the cinderblock basement walls for yourself. Strings, plumb bob, and tape were the only equipment (other than a level, a bricklayer's trowel, and the gear needed to mix the mud) used to lay up that foundation. As a bonus, Marty either refused, or couldn't afford, not sure which, to buy/rent a transit to shoot the site to place the foundation. So three pieces of string set that house up so close to perfectly square in relation to the invisible (at time of construction, anyway - dunno if the landscapers cleared a view to it or not) road that I had a hard time believing it even though I stood there watching it happen. I still don't claim to understand *HOW* he did it, but the results speak for themselves...

Marty may have been a cheapskate (not to mention a severe pain in the arse to work for) but I have to admit that he sure knew his stuff when it came to ultra low-tech tricks to get "laser guided" accuracy into his masonry.

I guess there's that method, too... But in the context of the discussion (low tech ways to fiddle with alignment) it seems *JUST A LITTLE BIT* like cheating :)

Reply to
Don Bruder

Pythagoras!

otherwise known as "3, 4, 5", in the trades.

Steve Bigelow ex-Bigelow & Pauly Masonry Restoration

Reply to
Stephen Bigelow

|> Not likely. it's hard to get an accurate measurement from a suspended |> string. | |Tell that to the mason who taught me how to lay a *DEAD STRAIGHT* and |*PERFECTLY* vertical concrete block wall using two strings, a tape |measure, and a plumb-bob....

apples and oranges. The problem is accurately measuring a fraction of 1 degree variance over 15 inches, against a string that is probably as thick as the variance we are trying to measure.

Don't take my word for it, though... Go to |3827 Jefferson Avenue in Midland, Michigan, and check the |straightness/verticality of the cinderblock basement walls for yourself. |Strings, plumb bob, and tape were the only equipment (other than a |level, a bricklayer's trowel, and the gear needed to mix the mud) used |to lay up that foundation. As a bonus, Marty either refused, or couldn't |afford, not sure which, to buy/rent a transit to shoot the site to place |the foundation. So three pieces of string set that house up so close to |perfectly square in relation to the invisible (at time of construction, |anyway - dunno if the landscapers cleared a view to it or not) road that |I had a hard time believing it even though I stood there watching it |happen. I still don't claim to understand *HOW* he did it, but the |results speak for themselves...

I just read "Working Alone" (Or something close to that) about how to lay out construction projects - foundations, walls etc - with just string and lumber, a plumb bob and a pocket calculator. Anything more is a convenience.

| |> You buy a camber gauge for $40-$50 | |I guess there's that method, too... But in the context of the discussion |(low tech ways to fiddle with alignment) it seems *JUST A LITTLE BIT* |like cheating :)

The only way I know is to use a large square, laid on the end of a straightedge spanning the tops of the wheels, with the 90-degree leg sticking down besdie the wheel. Then you measure top and bottom to edge of wheel, apply trig. Oh yeah - only works on open wheel cars.

Get a copy of HP Books "How to make your car handle" for ALL the low-buck alignment methods and a lot more. Rex in Fort Worth

Reply to
Rex B

Oh, I know about Pythagoras and "3, 4, 5". I use it myself from time to time - just last week while setting the forms for a concrete pad to put a spa on, in fact.

What I *DON'T* understand is how he used the strings to make the walls of the foundation *parallel to the road*. Using "3, 4, 5" to make them square to themselves is kiddie-play, but lining them up with an invisible external reference point... Now *THAT* is impressive! :)

Reply to
Don Bruder

snipped-for-privacy@REMOVEtxol.net (Rex B) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.txol.net:

Yup, you even see NASCAR guys doing it trackside after a brush with the wall. It does work very well. You just have to take careful measurements, and it is not as fast as a rack, however, it doesn't cost anything either :)))

Reply to
Anthony

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