Bob You can do the jobs yourself.
12 and 14mm ring spanners and sockets, plus a 17mm C spanner to break the lock nut on the tie rod and a 17mm socket to remove the steering arm from the strut to get access to the ball joint nut. To extract tapered ball joint pins from their components, loosen the nut until you cant see any thread on the outer side. Then you need to strike the side of the steering arm beside the pin with a hammer, while holding a heavy hammer or other metal object against the other side to absorb the shock. If you dont have a second hammer, strike it on the end so the shock is transmitted into the strut. This momentarily deforms the steering arm around the tapered pin, and should loosen the tapered pin, allowing it to fall to the where the nut is holding. Repeat if it doesnt. Take off the nut and the pin will drop out. Same technique for the lower ball joint to the steering arm, but you will need a second shock absorbing hammer or similar. You can buy a couple of different ball joint removing tools. The better design pushes down on the taper pin using leverage from a bolt under compression on the tool. You still have to "shock" the outer housing to get the pin to loosen. You should have the front end realigned after replacing a tie rod. You can do a rough alignment yourself by measuring across the wheel base front and rear of the front wheels, then resetting to the same measures after replacing the tie rod end. If steering changes or tyres start to wear unevenly, get it realigned on an aligning jig. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, 2 October 2002 19:57 PM Subject: Rego Repairs > Hello membersozdat, > > I have been knocked back for rego because of a tie rod end and a > ball joint on the front left. Ive never really done much mechanical > work on suspension/steering before, but it doesnt look too hard - do > you need any special tools etc to replace them besides spanners, > ratchets etc? Is it an easy enough job to do? Also, I will need a > wheel alignment after the tie rod end is replaced right? > > -- > Best regards, > Bob mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --membersozdat------------------------------------------------------- OZDAT Mailing List Please Note:- Send (un)subscribe requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Send submissions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] No unauthorised redistribution of this email http://www.ozdat.com/ozdatonline/index.htm http://www.ozdat.com/ozdatonline/listindex.html http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------
