Steering link problems, I need some more help

[BigKriss]

I took the steering links off and (must have been drinking) put the center tie rod fastners onto the left tie rod and vise versa. I have stripped the tops on the bolts that attach onto links. Now they don't go on "properly" - they are playing with me. Now that I have put the fastners on, I haven't been able to take them off or move it more to tighten it. I have used pliers on the rubber part to keep the bolt not turning with the fastners.

GenPhreak suggested using a Tap and Dye set. I'm out of ideas. I messed up. sorry. The problem is I cannot tigten up the bolts or loosen them, because the spindle thats in the middle of the rubber keeps on spinning. At which point do they spin? right now - you can see in the pics, Theres a gap on most joints.

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/1926/lefttietocenter9ul.jpg
Left tie rod to center

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6483/righttietocenter4gt.jpg
right tie rod to center

http://img305.imageshack.us/img305/4818/tieleft4ep.jpg
left tie rod

http://img308.imageshack.us/img308/1012/tieright3ks.jpg
right tie rod

[WarrenBrown]

I think your problem is, the nut your trying to attach is on the tapered shaft of the ball joint. The ball joint needs to spin freely during operation but the nut needs to be tight. Whenever I've been in your this situation I've put pressure on the back side of ball joint to force it into its mating tapered hole, the friction at that point allows the you to tighten the nut. Do not over tighten because you will stress the ball joint shaft weakening it.

Warren
91 318is
95 525iT

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

...whenever I'm putting tapered ball joint parts together I use a plain nut to snug the taper into the arm at ~50% of the rated torque. Then, remove the plain nut and apply the locking nut, torquing to spec.

Warren's right, apply pressure to the back of the arm to seat the taper. You should be able to get it to seat enough to turn off the nuts.

[Bill R.]

taper on the ballstud is not the exact same angle of taper as the hole it fits into, its an interference angle which helps to lock the stud into place when you tighten it down. In a case like yours i usually end up using a c clamp to squeeze the ball stud down into the socket hard enough to keep from spinning and you usually have to rig up some spacers on the side where the nut goes so the c clamp sits away from the nut enough to give your room to get a wrench on it while its clamped down.






I took the steering links off and (must have been drinking) put the center tie rod fastners onto the left tie rod and vise versa. I have stripped the tops on the bolts that attach onto links. Now they don't go on "properly" - they are playing with me. Now that I have put the fastners on, I haven't been able to take them off or move it more to tighten it. I have used pliers on the rubber part to keep the bolt not turning with the fastners.

GenPhreak suggested using a Tap and Dye set. I'm out of ideas. I messed up. sorry. The problem is I cannot tigten up the bolts or loosen them, because the spindle thats in the middle of the rubber keeps on spinning. At which point do they spin? right now - you can see in the pics, Theres a gap on most joints.

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/1926/lefttietocenter9ul.jpg
Left tie rod to center

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/6483/righttietocenter4gt.jpg
right tie rod to center

http://img305.imageshack.us/img305/4818/tieleft4ep.jpg
left tie rod

http://img308.imageshack.us/img308/1012/tieright3ks.jpg
right tie rod

[632 Regal]

Taken from the "read this first" post

How to tighten stubbern ball joints and stuff...

Use a normal non locking nut to tighten it and then torque it with the locking one.

If this doesn't make sence then you must have your car towed for repairs.

[Bill R.]

the locking nuts partway on and he can't get them on or off at this point without the ballstud spinning so the advise to use a normal non locking nut won't work for him at this point.







Taken from the "read this first" post

How to tighten stubbern ball joints and stuff...

Use a normal non locking nut to tighten it and then torque it with the locking one.

If this doesn't make sence then you must have your car towed for repairs.

[Martin in Bellevue]

It prolly isn't strong enough to tear anything up.

Good to see ya back on the board Bill.

[632 Regal]

Right O Bill...just adding my none sence after the fact.

Kris, you will probably either need to tap the joints into the hole so that you can loosen them up...or somehow get an impact gun in there to loosen it.

[Kalevera]

Hey Kristian -- are the bolt threads stripped/is the nut bad, or is the shaft just spinning with the nut?

If the bolt threadings are stripped: use a tap (should be 10 x 1.00, IIRC) if the bolt's threads are cut. It may take a bit of work to get it right, but I'm sure you can get it fixed. Just be certain that the nut is properly on before cinching it down with a rachet.

If the nut and shaft are spinning the joint: get a clamp on it, as Bill said, to hold the ball joint in place.


best, whit

[Lennyz525i]

Had this problem too, can really suck. I tried clamping the balljoints in place too but at the inner tie rod ends at the centerlink it can be pretty hard to place a clamp. I managed to get one of the balljoints to lock in place but I will not mention how I got it done because I'll get banned from the board. Any time I was able to press a balljoint in place it would pop out again as soon as I turned the nut. At the end I carefully drove it to the alignment shop and had them take care of it.

[liquidtiger720]

Wow. I'm soooo glad I didnt have this problem.

[BigKriss]

Hey Kristian -- are the bolt threads stripped/is the nut bad, or is the shaft just spinning with the nut?

If the nut and shaft are spinning the joint: get a clamp on it, as Bill said, to hold the ball joint in place.


most of the threads a stripped just on the top. The nuts are fine. the nut and shaft are spinning the joint. I will try and clamp it.

[SharkmanBMW]

I managed to get one of the balljoints to lock in place but I will not mention how I got it done because I'll get banned from the board.


ooooo, now you just HAVE to tell us!!!!!

[mattyb]

Do U Want Some Help?

[BigKriss]

hmm. is was quite a time consuming this job. I had to apply pressure to the ball joint to make the fastners screw on. For the two bolts on the center tie rod, I used the floor jack like this;

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/6857/pict0217small6mr.jpg

applied pressure and got the nuts real tight

http://img347.imageshack.us/img347/1033/pict0228small3wr.jpg

the left tie rod to wheel was a bitch also. I had to literally hang onto the tie rod and force the rod down while my flatmate tigthened up the bolt.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/2531/pict0230small9wv.jpg

center tie rod to outer tie rod. I had apply as much force as possible with my hand and wrench at the same time.

The car is out of alignment. I'm glad it's finished. I took it for a quick spin. not bad.

[uscharalph]

Nothing like a little struggle HUH!

[BigKriss]

the control arms should be fun

[BigKriss]

I summerised it all here;

http://forums.eurocca.net/showthread.php?p=121509#post121509

[632 Regal]

cool write up Kris

[uscharalph]

So what's your next project Kriss?

[DanH]

For future reference... there are ball joint clamps that make this job really easy. It looks like a custom C-clamp. I rented one from Autozone and the pieces included didnt fit perfectly, but it worked. I am sure many other parts stores do rent out a similar tool.

There is a hole at one end of the clamp that you can fit a socket onto the nut and then turn it very easily while the clamp holds the ball joint to the linkage.