tie rod are the bane of my existence. please help

[Buck_Futter]

so basically i think my patience is just wearing thin. but any tips would really help out. so first. my tires are locked on. and the car didnt come the locking screw pattern to take off the locking lugs. so the tires cant come off. we were putting the new tire rods in the part attached to the tire (i forget what its called). and we were going to tighten the nut on top of it. but the ball joint keeps spinning while we are tightening it. if anyone knows a way to keep it from spinning so we can tighten it down all the way. that would really help. the car has been on blocks for almost a month. and i think my brain power is running on E (e30 that is, hahaha, car humor). and im probably just overlooking something. so i deicded to ask for some help! please help!

[Van Westervelt]

You need to apply pressure from the bottom of the ball joint. The only jimmy rigged thing I could think of in that back woods mechanic situation is a small piece of 2x4 and a pry bar. Put the wood on the inside of the wheel, rest the pry bar on the wood with the tip under the ball joint. Trick is, you would ideally do this, while tightening the nut on top simultaneously. GL.

[shiboujin]

I jack up the tie rod where it meets the spindle with a jack and tighten from the top. It's always worked for me. Did it twice last night (your mom was pleased)

[scottinAZ]

hammer a socket over the locking lug and then take the wheel off. has to be done sooner or later, and now is a good time to do it

[Van Westervelt]

I jack up the tie rod where it meets the spindle with a jack and tighten from the top. It's always worked for me. Did it twice last night (your mom was pleased)

Slightly impossible in his situation. READ more.

hammer a socket over the locking lug and then take the wheel off. has to be done sooner or later, and now is a good time to do it

I am assuming that he is merely getting it back on the road to go have them removed. Otherwise he would have done so. But yes OP, if you have the means to get the wheel off, please do that.

[Buck_Futter]

I jack up the tie rod where it meets the spindle with a jack and tighten from the top. It's always worked for me. Did it twice last night (your mom was pleased)

Slightly impossible in his situation. READ more.

haha, thanx for actaully reading the entire thread.

hammer a socket over the locking lug and then take the wheel off. has to be done sooner or later, and now is a good time to do it

right now the lugs r deep inside the rims (internal lugs??) . so theres no way for me to get a socket around it (i have no fuckin idea how the jackass before me got these on and off). frustrating!!

[Mossman]

pry bar between wheel and ball joint will accomplish same thing as jack trick that everyone's talking about. How hard you gotta push depends on how big the pry bar is and how lucky you get. The part of the ball joint stud that passes through the knuckle is conical so you have to provide enough pressure to get it locked in there, sometimes it just snags, sometimes you can jack the car up by that joint and it still spins (rarely). Luck of the draw.

[bme30]

Jack the bottom of the tie rod end, something like this...

[b*saint]

I dont think you can get them out with the tire on.

[Kershaw]

go to a tire shop and get the wheel lock taken off.

[Van Westervelt]

Wheel isnt off the car. You guys are fucking dumb and ignorant. You keep stating the obvious when that will obviously not work if you read the op.

[lennon]

one of my first priorities (before changing tie rod ends) would be getting the locking bolts or whatever off. WTF?

[pharow]

one of my first priorities (before changing tie rod ends) would be getting the locking bolts or whatever off. WTF?

I'm with him on this.

[Boostesi]

you could buy a thin wall turbo socket to remove the wheel locks, or borrow an oxy acetylene torch and carefully heat just the lug nut until it glows and blast the oxygen at it, which will melt the nut off the stud. be carefull that your only heat the lug nut at worst you may have to change a wheel stud which is no big deal they cost about 2 dollars and take 15 mins to change then you will have open access to your tie rod

[Boostesi]

on second note for your rims sake, you should probably have someone experienced with a torch do it for you it kind of takes some finess