Bad Tie Rod Ends?

[tibetaneskimo]

Just as a warning, I don't have a whole lot of mechanic experience. I am also a newbie and ahve already searched like mad. I can pull out the interior of about any car and put it back in without problems, but throw grease into the mix and I have wicked struggles. Onto my question.

If my tie rod ends just spin when I try to tighten (or loosen) the nut, does that mean they are bad? Everything I've read it sounds like they are supposed to be rather difficult to pull out, and so I assume the same for putting them in also.

I bought a used steering rack that had the tie rods and everything already bolted up. I was hoping this was going to be relatively straight forward, pull it out and then put it back in. So far it has not.

Thanks in advance.

[jlevie]

It isn't unusual for the ball joint stud to spin in the knuckle when trying to install or remove the nut. The nut is a self locking type and can cause the stud to spin. The fix is to place a jack under the ball joint and apply pressure to force the stud to grab.

[tibetaneskimo]

Thanks. I figured it had to be something simple that I was over looking. The tie rod ends felt solid and didn't move particularly easy when wiggling.

[Fast Frankie]

are you talking about the part of the tie rod end that connect to the brake hub?

[tibetaneskimo]

Yeah, I was talking about the part that hooks up with the rotor and wheel and everything. I already have it put back together. Probably should have put in an e36 rack, but I picked this one up for $50 with tie rods, pump and everything.

[JGood]

Yeah, I was talking about the part that hooks up with the rotor and wheel and everything. I already have it put back together. Probably should have put in an e36 rack, but I picked this one up for $50 with tie rods, pump and everything.

That's a great deal.

Like Jlevie said, they do spin sometimes. I've had luck not needing to put force on brand new tie-rods when installing them, other then that they spin.

Some control arm ball joints have a female hex hole cut into the top of the stud. So you can put a wrench on the nut, and an allen wrench/male hex socket on the stud to prevent it from spinning.