I used to do that, but did have some that were, ummm . . .
/reluctant/. This was while living in the midwest, where they salt the
roads in winter, and salt sprays directly onto suspension, floor pan,
rocker panels, and other parts, BTW, though I don't believe that rust
was ever the issue - they always had a non-rusted taper surface once
removed.
But I once went to buy GTi parts from a fellow a few hours' drive
north of here. He was bashing away at the tie-rod end on a small
Japanese pickup truck when I arrived, and said that he was thinking of
trying to drive it - despite the wobbly steering - several miles into
town, where he could get someone to use a torch to heat it up, because
he had spent hours trying to remove the damned thing, and still was
having no luck. He'd told me most of that over the phone when I got
directions to his place, so I had brought along my little separator,
same style as started this thread. I walked over to the truck with it,
and a box-end wrench, in hand. Slid it in place, turned the screw by
hand to the finger-tight position, and placed the wrench on it. Second
swing of the wrench , it gave a faint "click", and I backed off and
removed the tool. Let him lift out the freed tie rod end. I should
have counted how many times he said, "Well, I'll be a son-of-a-bitch!"
Let's just say that it was A LOT of times and be done. When I talked
with him a couple of weeks later, he had already bought a tool himself,
and was ready - maybe even /hoping/ - to have to use it on something.
I have several ball-joint separators, in different sizes and
styles, because not all such joints are made equal. I have seen a
couple of instances where the best approach was to apply serious
pressure with the tool, and THEN whack the assembly with a hammer.
That's worth remembering, especially when you're working on larger
units. Don't think I have ever needed to do it with a VW, but there was
a Jeep Cherokee . . .
On 5/28/2012 7:06 AM, Anthony Pelletier wrote:
Also if you need to remove a tie rod and dont have a ball joint seperator, just
whack where it goes in the spindle with a 3lb hammer. A few good whacks and
they always pop out for me, and I live in the rust belt in Maine.
Tony
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