Hi,

Went to remove the inner and outer tie rods on my KE15 today but the adjuster in the middle wont unscrew off them ;)

 

I didn't try to force it as it looked fragile but how is this achieved? What is the best way to remove the tie rods from the connecting tube with no damage.

 

Cheers

Cameron

not quite sure on ke15 as I've never worked on anything earlier than ke30...

 

but My guess is lots of WD40 or similar, have a coffee and wait for it to soak in. leave the tie rod ends in plaec in the car so they don't move, grab the tie rod itself with vice grips nice and tight, and try and undo it in a jerky motion rather than a gradual pressure... once it has "cracked" then it should come undone without too much drama. Should it continue to be difficult, you may need to do one full turn, then back half a turn, then another full turn, then back half a turn and continue until you have it undone...

 

Robert.

Hi,

Well that is the thing I have had WD40 on them now for 2 weeks no luck :) there stuck on really good.

 

But it looks like KE10 rods that join the 2 tie rods (think there called radius rods) have like 2 nuts on the end I though they were lock nuts of some sort but can't turn them either :y:

 

Think I might have to try to get some heat into it.

 

Cheers

Cameron

Heat solves all man. It's amazing how much more effective than WD40 the heat is. Go grab yourself a Bernzomatic MAPP Gas torch, they're about 120 bucks with the adjustable torch. I was hesitant about paying that for it at first, but damn it has saved me soooooo much time and frustration.

 

Edit; now I'll open up the forum to discussion on the heat retempering the steel......

Edited October 13, 200916 yr by philbey

cam the 2 nuts are locknuts 1lh thread 1 rh thread heat adjuster and drop in bucket of water should loosen them

I was actually trying to get the tie rods off my TA22 Celica and I got that bar off with one of those tools like a heavy duty multi-grips and it took a while.

I took the nuts off and totally couldn't get the tie rods out. Apparently they're on a tapered thread which is why they're so tough but they were impossible. I tried WD40ing them and whacking them out with a hammer and it didn't move. I've done them before on other cars and they've never been hard like that.

I gave up and the car is going into the mechanics tomorrow but does anyone have any tips for that, other than the blow torch?

in order of preference:

 

WD40

impact (ie a hammer or similar)

longer leverage

brute force

repeat steps as long as you have patience

apply heat

start at "impact" and work your way down again.

 

we had a hell of a time getting a idler arm off a landrover defender a few months back.... there was a hydraulic puller involved, bars over a meter in length, a considerable amount of wd40 and brute force, and then finally a considerable amount of heat..... it took maybe 5 hours to get it off... not nice.

 

Robert.