track rod end not going back in

Oh ok, maybe slightly different on different cars as my Volvo Haynes says otherwise.....

Again, this was based on a Volvo :)

No, I am right.

The steering rack connects to the track rod. On the end of the track rod is the track rod end. The track rod end connects (with the downwards tapery bolt thingy) to the steering arm, which is part of the hub carrier.

I reckon.

Sorry, let me explain better. The track rod end is still attached to the track rod and the locknut is still in place so I don't think I'll need to have the tracking checked afterwards. I have loosened the nut holding the track rod end to the steering arm and the track rod end has now popped up about 1/2" from the steering arm. The nut is still in place. Despite lots of fiddling and swearing I am unable to get the track rod end to sit down properly on the steering arm again. I cannot tighten the nut as it just spins the bolt it is on.

Ah. A couple of mistakes then. If it's a nylock nut then you should have removed it completely before breaking the taper seal because that's all that stops the joint rotating. Now you've got a broken taper seal and a nut that needs a fair bit of force to turn on its thread. There will probably also be rust and crap on the thread contributing to the problem.

What you need to do is jack the steering arm up gently with a trolley jack with the track rod end braced from the top. A length of wood jammed under the inner wing or some other convenient point and onto the top of the rod end should do. Don't lift the whole corner off the ground and buckle the inner wing !!!

Once the joint is tight remove the nut completely, wire brush the thread and fit a new nut. Probably an idea to remove the track rod end and clean up the male and female tapers too in case crap has fallen into it while you've been playing with it.

The message from "bodge boy" contains these words:

Must admit that's what I've always called it.

The rack pushes the trackrod, which pushes the trackrod end which pushes the bolt with a taper on it which goes in the arm which bolts to the hub (or is part of the strut).

bodge boy ( snipped-for-privacy@rocketdude.net) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

# dem bones, dem bones, dem DRY bones.

It's not a nylock nut - Haynes says to loosen the nut, use a balljoint separator to separate the track rod end and steering arm then remove the nut. I never got to remove the nut because the taper just spins round but I was able to remove and refit the driveshaft anyway.

However....

The nut and taper are both pretty rusty so I may have to treat it like a nylock anyway. I like the idea of jacking underneath to push it together. I may even try a hybrid method of jacking from below and getting a fat person to stand on the track rod...

Cheers for all the help guys - I'll have a bash this evening and see how it goes :D

Chris

Depending of course on model of car.

The steering rack bone connects to the inner tie rod bone. The inner tie rod bone connects to the outer tie rod bone. The outer tie rod bone connects to the tie rod end bone (track rod end bone) The tie rod end bone connects to the steering arm bone The steering arm bone connects to the hub bone The hub bone connects to the wheel bone The wheel bone connects to the tyre bone

and with all this technology connecting them to the road still they crash on a monotonously regular basis.

Dave Baker ( snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

That's because you forgot a couple of links back at the start.

The steering rack bone connects to the steering column bone. The steering column bone connects to the steering wheel bone. The steering wheel bone connects to the driver bonehead. And that's what gets it wrong.

Heh - that makes sense actually. Track rod's the bit I was calling a steering arm.

Btw, could you quote what you're replying to like I've done here? Just makes things easier to follow. Ta :-)

LOL!

Yup - it would appear I'm having a fortnight of experimental muppetry.

AstraVanMan ( snipped-for-privacy@whataloadofforeskinbollocks.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

" "

Wiggle it lots till the threaded end is sticking a decent way through the hole, then apply a hammer repeatedly till the damned thing is tight enough on the taper to do the nut up without spinning.

You are, of course, using a new nyloc nut aren't you...? ;)

This is generally the point when I bless my air tools ;-) They spin faster than the joint. (If they don't, they joint is probably worn out!)

After lots of hammering, swearing, jacks, fat people, more swearing, clamps, more hammering, and lots more swearing the taper still wouldn't stay still while I turned the nut. I gave in and resorted to clamping my mullgrips on to the bottom of the taper as tight as I could and belting the spanner with a mallet. It worked (eventually) but it's fooked the bottom of the taper good and proper - that nut isn't coming off again. When it's time to change the track rod ends I'm going to have to loosen the nut a little and cut the taper off with a hacksaw.

It's not exactly what you'd call a quality job but hey, at least I got the car back on the road :D

Cheers all

Chris

Is now a good time to say once you've got the taper nipped up at all, work the nut back and forth (a little less back than forth every 10th time or so) and it'll almost always work its way down the thread and eventually tighten up fine?

If only it were true. Looking at the underside of my micra, I can see that they've been wetted for a while.