if it aint broke don't fix it :P tie rods question

ok it started with a disk brake conversion.

then to a upper control arm, spring pearch rebuild and installing new springs and shocks.

then a lower control arm rebuild...

now i'm doing the tie rods inner and outers. outers were fine but the inners oh brother! what a (female dog)

ok now i got a questions... so far i worked on trying to get the inner rods off for about an hour on my back! god i wish i had a hoist! anyways got the pin and bolt off.. but the tie rod don't budge off the center link! i got a pickle fork but it don't work too well...

so anyone else got some suggestions on getting this pig off bsides banging the hell out of the thread side?

i'm now thinking it was fine and should have just left it.

 

Derrick,


A pickle fork has always worked for me....however, if you decide to just beat the crap out of it anyway, either to get it loose, or merely for therapeutic reasons, be sure to thread the nut on a few threads so that you lessen your chances of a misfire!

Not much help, but that's all I have to offer at nearly 3 am!

Good Luck

Later,

 

Time for an even Bigger FH?

 

advance, auto zone etc. etc....has a ball joint removal tool they rent...it's a wiered looking tool...worked perfect for me... no ...frank...

 

hey thanks for the advice! trust me i beated on it! and not bad for a 3am thought either!

hey dude thats what i did today! came off like that... makes me think what i could have done in the one hour i waisted yesterday .. but thanks dude! now i gotta return it to kragen (aka checkers / chucks where others might be) get my $116 bucks back!

OK NEXT QUESTION!

what did you guys use to take off the idler arm bushing off the center link?

 

its too early for me to visualize the idler arm bushing, but as far as the tie rods, some of them are just tough, i broke the arms off of 2 of those tools from autozone on the torino. ended up heating it with a blowtorch, cooling it with WD-40. cycled that a few times and one pop with the hammer and it was out.

 

Try using a hammer to shock the center link around where the tie rod end attaches to the center link. Or use the tool that others have mentioned.

 

hey mav man, the idler arm/center link bushing has a metal shell thats pressed into the center link, if yours is anything like the one on my grabber, you'll have to pull the idler arm off the car, along with the center link, separate the two, i used a very narrow pickle fork to get it started, and then put it in a vise and pulled the arm out, next take a screw driver or small chisel and pull the rubber out of the shell thats pressed in to the center link WD-40 will help this process. next i took a chisel and drove the shell out of the link and drove the new one in (a SMALL amount of grese, or other lube will help get it started in straight, pay attention to which way the old one was pressed in (one side has a flat edge to press it in with, be sure you get this in right, or you'll be buy in another bushing and doing this again, hope this helps

 

again guys thanks for the suggestions!

well i got everything off this past weekend. now i'm putting all back together. i'm gonna leave the idler arm cuz it looked fine.. besides the new ones really looked like crap.

i also found out my yellow maverick isn't a real 75.. well ok yes its taged a 75 but for sure it was a left over 74! all the suspention parts like the tie rods and idler are were differant and were 74 and below... not to sure how many of you guys knew this but it was new to me. i guess the 75 and ups are differant then the 74 and below. fyi to anyone if you guys do this you might wanna upgrade to a 75 and up.. its a much better idler arm! but you must change everything including the center link!

just waiting on the lower control arms.. gonna do something trick with them then this puppys going back together!

anyways here some images of the new upper control arm. also with a poly spring pearches with a zert fitting, all stainess steel washers and cadium plated nuts. if anyone wants part number for it let me know.

 

I would love part numbers for everything! I'm about to do the same thing! Check your email, man. Thanks, it looks sweet!

 

I thought all Maverick front suspensions were tha same from '70-'77, with the exception of disc brake spindles and outter tie-rod ends...:confused:

 

T.L., seems I remember something about the 69.5/70's being built with Falcon parts?

 

i'll look out for your e-mail...

nope... center links are for sure differant for sure. after compaing the part i was like what the heck.. then for the heck of it i had napa and and kragen look up par numbers and they listed them as differant parts for 74 and below and 75 and up.

so with the center link the inner tie rods and ilder arm is differant too. again the 75 and up idler arm is a way better design but you can't use it unless you have the later center link....

i find out something new everyday about these pieces of junk

 

When I put the manual steering from the Grabber onto my 77, I used 71 inner tie rod ends and 77 outer tie rod ends, and I don't remember which idler arm, though I suspect it was for a 71. When I compared all the tie rod ends I had, none of them looked any different to me, just the adjusting sleeve looked different from the old to the new style. If there is a significant difference, I did not see it.

 

The disc-brake outter tie-rod ends have a shorter threade shaft for the castle nut & cotter pin. That much I do know...