Following postings a couple of weeks ago re track rod ends, I made a start on changing one of mine earlier on. I removed the lock nut off the bottom of it and had thought that there would enough movement in the steering rack to lift the track rod end out of the steering arm with it still attached to the rack.
However, relatively gentle lever-ing hasn't moved it at all. Before I let loose with the big hammer, can anyone tell me if I'm going about this the right way?? Is there something different I should be doing, or a nack to it??
THoughts welcome - especially as the car's all in bits in the garage!
Thanks
Tim
Track rod ends - advice needed again
Tim,
It's a ball joint and should preferable be split with a propritory ball joint splitter.
That said there's the old fashion way of splitting them. If you look on the hub part of the steering arm there's a slight flat in the semi circle.
If you give that a good hard crack with a hammer the joint should split. Gentle prizing won't work as the ball joint is a tapered fit.
If you can post up some photo's I can identify the correct place to skelp it. If you think of the steering attachment (bit screwed on the hub) as a finger shaped - your looking to hit the bit that faces towards the front of the car.
HTH
Mac
It's a ball joint and should preferable be split with a propritory ball joint splitter.
That said there's the old fashion way of splitting them. If you look on the hub part of the steering arm there's a slight flat in the semi circle.
If you give that a good hard crack with a hammer the joint should split. Gentle prizing won't work as the ball joint is a tapered fit.
If you can post up some photo's I can identify the correct place to skelp it. If you think of the steering attachment (bit screwed on the hub) as a finger shaped - your looking to hit the bit that faces towards the front of the car.
HTH
Mac
S2 Elise (cobalt blue with stripes) - toy spec
Caterham 7 - hillclimb spec
Yamaha Thundercat - 2 wheeled toy spec
Caterham 7 - hillclimb spec
Yamaha Thundercat - 2 wheeled toy spec
Not much help to you at the moment, but I bought one of these from Machine Mart for about £8. Made the job much easier,
That said, the last time I was removing the TRE, as soon as I started slackening the locknuts on the TRE to rack, the joint split itself. I then had the hassle of trying to get the nut of the bottom of the TRE as it was now just birling. Good squeeze with the vice grips sorted that, but no means ideal.
Cheers
That said, the last time I was removing the TRE, as soon as I started slackening the locknuts on the TRE to rack, the joint split itself. I then had the hassle of trying to get the nut of the bottom of the TRE as it was now just birling. Good squeeze with the vice grips sorted that, but no means ideal.
Cheers
Stewart