Just got two new tyres for the disco £110 total

Just got two new tyres for the disco, I only needed one (front nearside), was going to get the spare tyre swapped over with the partially worn one giving me two good tyres on the front. Phoned Mertityre (

The only thing they could not do was fix the tracking as it had seised ?? So does anyone know how I go about un-seised it ?

Regards

James

What breed of tyre are they?

AWEM

Heat - lots of it.

Or new parts... peoples lives depend on steering... Steering and brakes are some of the areas I never cut corners.

two track rod ends (you'll be doing them anyway I guess) and a new rod wouldn't break the bank.

Lee D

Not for a Defender, but the track rod for a Discovery/RRC has the adjuster link and steering damper bracket, which pushes the cost up somewhat - £70.50 inc VAT instead of £42.28 inc VAT.

Chances are, with the track rod in a vice, it'll not be as siezed as it seems. Having said that though, cutting corners on steering components is Not A Good Thing.

Richard

Mine was, even after heating I managed to pull the threads out of the rod - I bought the new rod from you! It was a bugger because I had managed to straighten the old rod with little problem.

Regarding tracking, make sure you check the swivel bearings for wear/play, mine were knackered and I needed a complete new full monty. Until this bit is right the tracking is a complete waste of time.

Julian.

don't have the details at hand at the moment, I do remember they are made by avon and called something along the lines of Ranger. =CC will post back with details when I have them!

Rangemasters? I think something like that was on my landy when I bought it.

IME a lot of the wheel alignment places are lacking the proper tools to have a decent go at adjusting a track rod (my local tyre place used to send me 3 or 4 vehicles a week to unsieze and it was normally just a case of giving it a good dose of WD40 and attacking it with an appropriate weapon). Failing that the judicious application of heat (as suggested by others) may be necessary.

Sorry - that's rubbish!

Absolutely, remove track rod, soak offending end(s) in WD40 and slide clamp along out of the way, rest across vice or some such suitable anvil and use a small hammer along the length of the tube containing the threads all round and they almost always move quite easily but on no account use heat as it always pulls the threads and knackers the tube.

Martin

Failing that the judicious application of heat (as

Depends on how much heat you use - I wasn't advocating getting it red hot, just warming it enough to get a wee bit of thermal expansion going to help free up the seized bits. Any more heat than that is going to do a mischief to the track rod ends anyway.

Just got two new tyres for the disco, I only needed one (front nearside), was going to get the spare tyre swapped over with the partially worn one giving me two good tyres on the front. Phoned Mertityre (

The only thing they could not do was fix the tracking as it had seised ?? So does anyone know how I go about un-seised it ?

That does not strike me as being good service, they have sold you a tyre that you did not need, and they have not carried out a job that you requested. How is that good service?

Most things are all right in moderation I agree, but the WD40 and shock treatment is preferable.

Martin

A helpful suggestion for the OP would be, well, helpful. It doesn't seem like you have much experience of his problem. As EMB says, a small amount of heat may work, but, as I said, it usually knackers the threads.

Martin

OK - I've been using heat on Land Rover steering connections for 35 years, I've never failed to separate a seized joint and I've never fouled up a thread in so doing (or even raised any concern that it was 'iffy')

Perhaps I've been lucky and my examples weren't the worst around but I can only go on what I've seen.

Perhaps it's your technique that's at fault!

I've never had a problem with the use of a torch to unseize a thread - make sure the flame doesn't have too much oxy in it. I have a friend who was drilled in the fine art of taking the entire nut off without damaging the thread, using a cutting torch. God knows how THAT works.

Steve

Never failed? I've seen track rods so seized, damaged and cross threaded that you (and I mean you) couldn't free them unless you burned them apart. Never failed my arse.

Luck's not the word.

Not much technique to lighting an oxy/acetylene torch. You don't need heat to free off 99% of seized parts *if* you have the right technique and, by the way, I have also been doing this job for *more* than 35 years. Not much help to the OP's question is it?

The rust acts as a heat insulator (or even a space in a non rusty thread) so the molten metal falls from the joint without burning past it, try it, you'll be surprised how easy it is.

Martin

Strange how those of us with a decent amount of professional experience (25 years in my case) seem to agree most of the time. Maybe it means that we are correct.