Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Busy time
I know I haven't posted in a while and a few things have been going on. I have bee things to cover and a motorcycle trip I went on. Started to plant the garden, mowing, repairing and barely find time to sit a write, but it's coming.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Tie rod complete
Finally got the tie rod bought and put back in.
Next up was the alignment. When you take all that stuff off the tires are not aligned anymore so I had to do a little backyard redneck aligning.
You take a piece of string and run it from the rear tire to the front along the outer edge. Since the drivers side was not messed with that was my gauge. I run the line across the center line of the rear tire across the center line of the front and when the string (make sure it barely touched the outer edges of the rear) touches the outer edges of the front tire your good on that side ( you may have to move the wheel to get it all in line.
Switch over to the other side and do the same across the rear tire and for the front you may have to adjust it from turning the inner tie rod either in or out of the tie rod ball joint. Get it as close as you can, you'll still need to get it done by a professional but at least you won't be all over the road.
Sorry no pictures, I was doing this as a one man job and didn't want to mess with the pictures just get it done.
Here's a picture I grabbed off the Internet to give you an idea of what I did.
Next up was the alignment. When you take all that stuff off the tires are not aligned anymore so I had to do a little backyard redneck aligning.
You take a piece of string and run it from the rear tire to the front along the outer edge. Since the drivers side was not messed with that was my gauge. I run the line across the center line of the rear tire across the center line of the front and when the string (make sure it barely touched the outer edges of the rear) touches the outer edges of the front tire your good on that side ( you may have to move the wheel to get it all in line.
Switch over to the other side and do the same across the rear tire and for the front you may have to adjust it from turning the inner tie rod either in or out of the tie rod ball joint. Get it as close as you can, you'll still need to get it done by a professional but at least you won't be all over the road.
Sorry no pictures, I was doing this as a one man job and didn't want to mess with the pictures just get it done.
Here's a picture I grabbed off the Internet to give you an idea of what I did.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Tie rod
Well, once again the daughters car went out. I get a call that it's acting funny and shaking and shimmying all over so she pulled off if the church parking lot and got a ride to school from the wife. On my way home I stopped by to take a look, everything looked fine until I drove it.
Felt like the wheels were locking up, so I parked it and got out to look. Drives side wheel was fine, pointing forward. Passenger side looked like it was turning left. I squeezed my head under and saw the the tie rod ball joint was disconnected from the tie rod (official name I think is Inner tie rod). I went home and packed a few tools and went back. Took the tire off and the ball joint and went to screw it back on and it just slid on most of the way. STRIPPED out. I was able to get a couple threads to hold and babied her back home.
Everything came back off, I crawled under to see how to remove the tie rod. Did a Internet search on removal and crawled back under, did another search and crawled back under, did that about three more times. Looked the part up on the Internet and saw that it screwed in, so I crawled back under and saw that there was nothing to put a tool on.
This frustrated me for about three days, until... I'm a big proponent of using the right tools for the right job... I figured if I could get a pipe wrench on it I may be able to get it off. Hunted high and low for my smallest wrench and went to work. Blam off it came (thanks 6" pipe wrench). Today I buy a new part and install sometime this weekend.
I get tired laying in the gravel working on my cars.
Anyway, here's the tie rod. Top part of the picture is the ball joint end that fastens to the control arm which is what steers the car, that screws on to the rod in the middle. Bottom end of the picture is the ball joint that I used the pipe wrench on to get it off, it's screwed into the steering rack. It's round with nothing to grip on.
There is a rubber boot that encloses the bottom end and rack that's filled with power steering fluid.
Felt like the wheels were locking up, so I parked it and got out to look. Drives side wheel was fine, pointing forward. Passenger side looked like it was turning left. I squeezed my head under and saw the the tie rod ball joint was disconnected from the tie rod (official name I think is Inner tie rod). I went home and packed a few tools and went back. Took the tire off and the ball joint and went to screw it back on and it just slid on most of the way. STRIPPED out. I was able to get a couple threads to hold and babied her back home.
Everything came back off, I crawled under to see how to remove the tie rod. Did a Internet search on removal and crawled back under, did another search and crawled back under, did that about three more times. Looked the part up on the Internet and saw that it screwed in, so I crawled back under and saw that there was nothing to put a tool on.
This frustrated me for about three days, until... I'm a big proponent of using the right tools for the right job... I figured if I could get a pipe wrench on it I may be able to get it off. Hunted high and low for my smallest wrench and went to work. Blam off it came (thanks 6" pipe wrench). Today I buy a new part and install sometime this weekend.
I get tired laying in the gravel working on my cars.
Anyway, here's the tie rod. Top part of the picture is the ball joint end that fastens to the control arm which is what steers the car, that screws on to the rod in the middle. Bottom end of the picture is the ball joint that I used the pipe wrench on to get it off, it's screwed into the steering rack. It's round with nothing to grip on.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Install today
Yup, today we're going to do our install. Don't know if I'll get any pictures but I'll at least get it on film. Wife is helping, she doesn't want to mess with the camera. HAPPY HAPPY
UPDATE: A little cold and windy after work today so the insatll did not happen. Looks like Thursday may be the day it's going to happen. It's not really the day tempreture, it's the night. Want it a little warmer to help them get acclimated and settled in.
UPDATE: A little cold and windy after work today so the insatll did not happen. Looks like Thursday may be the day it's going to happen. It's not really the day tempreture, it's the night. Want it a little warmer to help them get acclimated and settled in.
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