How do I fasten a tie-rod nut if its stud turns in the arm?

[robroy]

Good evening Frank, 70_F100, Convincor, Clint, Alvin, and ForingaMex, thanks for your fantastic replies!

cep62 and BobbyFord nailed it.

Always try the pry bar up method first as 99% of the time, you don't need the extra force of the jack. (I often use the jack as a fulcrum just the same)

Excellent, thanks! And indeed I didn't need the jack force (more on that at the bottom of this post).

IF it takes more force than the pry bar allows you, I'd take a tri file (triangle file) to the effected threads and then try the pry bar again. If ya still can't get it, THEN try the jack with a wood block. . . . A little force and try, a little more and try, etc.

Okay!

Something else to consider (though I doubt VERY seriously that this will come in to play on your truck in particular) is that clean metal binds to clean metal fairly easily (in this tapered environment).

Oh! That's an excellent point that I wouldn't have thought of--thanks for mentioning this.

I have guys in the shop get all frustrated trying to get a tie rod end to "take", only to come behind them, pull it back apart, take brake cleaner to the "bolt" and "socket", so that it doesn't want to spin so easily.

I see!

As already stated, impact with a bump of the trigger is the way to go. If you want to torque it exact, just bump it enough to seat it and then grab the torque wrench (which I'll confess that I've never done, I just impact the nut on tight, till it's aligned for the cotter pin).

Great, thanks! I didn't even need to use the impact wrench as it turned out (more on that below).

Still looking awesome man!

Thanks very much Frank!

Actually eagerly awaiting your run time experiences in many aspects (March acc. drive kit and such). If I can't find pulleys in the junk yard (from non FE donors obviously) to convert to "serpentine", I'll likely be spending a heck of a lot on a march kit with a/c and p/s.

Excellent! I promise to be highly attentive while driving it, and report everything I notice in detail. I'm quite curious about how the truck will behave also, since the particular combination of parts and upgrades I've assembled might be somewhat unusual.

We need keyboard drool sensors to save some digital disaster here!

Well thanks for appreciating it!

Robroy, it's been pretty much hit on the nose here. To get the stud to quit turning, you have to put pressure on the rod so that the stud seats in the taper.

Perfect, thanks! And that's exactly how it worked (more later).

However, if it were me, I'd pull the tie rod back down and file the threads lightly, so that the nut threads on easily.

That sounds like a very wise suggestion, and one that I was ready to try if the pry-bar method hadn't made such short work of the whole puzzle.

Forcing the nut on after the threads have been damaged can damage the nut. Since steering is such an important part of your vehicle, you don't want any damaged threads on the components. They are somewhat likely to strip and loosen, thereby allowing your steering to fail.

Excellent points!

I've seen instances where the nut was forced on with no ramifications, but I've also seen failures due to this.

That's good to know!

IMHO, I wouldn't take any chances. The small amount of work required to do it correctly is not worth the risk involved if you don't.

Indeed, this has to be true! As it turned out though, with moderate pry-bar pressure on the bottom of the tie rod end, I was able to turn the nut past the thread anomaly quite easily, and using a regular ratchet nonetheless.

something i'll add is when taking it apart rather than a pickle fork which will destroy the boot just rap the pitman arm a few times with a 3lb hammer. The drag link will drop right out. (loosen the nut up first of course)

Perhaps when I tried to remove it before, lateral force was being exerted upon the stud by static tension in the linkage, if it's possible for such a thing to happen. The stud seemed quite stuck in the pitman arm!

Then again, I did not try rapping a hammer directly upon the pitman arm as you've advised! Since this sounds so simple, I'll definitely remember this trick next time I'm in that situation. And I fully appreciate what you're saying about the pickle forks chewing up rubber boots!

And if it doesn't want to turn loose, use a little downward pressure with a pry bar!!

Okay! I'll try that combination next time I'm in that situation then!

You guys are good. I have never been good enough to hit a pitman arm and have the drag link drop out. I try it every time anyway though. I always have to resort to the tuning fork.

I see!

If I have one spin when tightening and enough of the stud is showing out the top of the tapered hole I will use a box end wrench on the nut and a pair of vise grips on top of the stud just enough to pull the tapered fit up enough to hold itself. Or tap it up into the fit with a brass drift enough for the fit to hold it still while I tighten it

Okay Clint, thanks for those ideas! I'll revisit what you've written next time I get in to a similar situation.

you just need to hit it hard enough.

Hitting the pitman arm with a big hammer seems quite harsh, but I'd bet that the forces regularly exerted upon that area from hitting potholes on the highway are also pretty extreme, albeit different. So perhaps it can "take it," as you're suggesting!

You probably wouldn't be able to do it with a small ball-peen hammer.

But if you get a BFH, it's going to work every time!!!

Okay, I'll use my five pound hammer the next time I get in to a scenario like that again!

I'd fix the threads. I'd work at 'til the nut threaded by hand. Just the way I do things because I only work on stuff I care about.

That makes perfect sense! I don't think I would have used an impact wrench on it, but perhaps overcoming a minor thread anomaly with the pry-bar isn't so bad, as long as it can be done with a regular hand wrench.

I never use anything bigger than a ballpeen hammer. Not one of the smallest of course. My brothers tought me many years ago how to do it. You need to hammers, one can be big but the one you actually hit with doesn't need to be big. Hold the big hammer tight against the pitman arm (or whatever you're trying to get tie-rod out of) on one side of the tie-rod and hit with the smaller hammer right on the opposite side of the eye that the tie-rod is in. One or a couple of nice solid hits has done it for me every time.

Oh, that's quite interesting! So the large hammer was effective at backing up the blows of the smaller hammer? That's a good thing to try!

Thanks to the fantastic advice y'all have rendered, this turned out to be far less of a challenge than I thought it might have been. Of course that's partly due to having no front clip, and that makes for easy access to this area!

After pushing the stud up in to the pitman arm and holding it there with a pry-bar, as shown in this photo, I was able to thread the nut on with easy-to-moderate effort. After just a turn or so it smoothed out completely--I probably just had to overcome some minor blemish on the threads, like a microscopic, gold skeleton key or a fly's lunch box.



Once I got it started it stayed in one place very nicely! I torqued it to 65 ft/lbs, then turned it ever-so-slightly more to align the cotter pin hole. I enhanced the looks of the poor cotter pin slightly after taking this photo, but needless to say I'm not yet a good cotter pin artist.



Frank, 70_F100, Convincor, Clint, Alvin, and ForingaMex, thanks for all your superb replies!

Robroy

[heviarti]

I just replaced a steering box, and tried hammering the tie rod out (4WD) as suggested by the company mechanic, Chad The Talking Monkey. Needless to say, that didn't work. I used the pickle fork. and had it off in three whacks. Also, my tie rod has a metal plate, not a boot... so nothing got destroyed.

Except for the nut... the last thread got bent in... my solution is as such: I took the nut and ran a 9/16-18 tap through it. it installed without a complaint.

The best solution is to capture the stud (likely using a jack as described) and run a die on your threads. Do not use a regular triangle file on your threads. Use a 60 degree thread file. They're scarce, But worth their weight in gold.

[Fuquay]

Hi, robroy. What's the torque value on that nut? I'm dropping in a new steering box now and want to make sure I get that one right.

[Fuquay]

Oops,I see you did 65 lbs.