Hey Tom, Take a look at the steering nuckle where the tie rod end goes through the hole. There is a flat spot on it that faces the outside of the car. Give it a good whack on the flat spot with a hammer and the tie rod end will fall right out! (I hope, anyway. For your sake!) Good luck. :-) Jake Kamphoefner 1063 ----- Original Message ---- From: Tom Tait <TTait@xxxxxxxxxx> To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2008 1:17:27 PM Subject: [DML] Ouch! Tie Rods Ends 1 - Tom 0 OK, Maybe we are tied 1-1... I'm mid-way through replacing my steering rack. The rack is still in the car, mounts removed, bolts off the steering knuckle threads and I used a "pickle fork" to pop the passenger side tie rod end loose, no problem. The drivers side has kicked my butt. I have applied wd40, freeze off, heat, and I've tried hammering with the nut over the top of the threads to protect them. I've lifted the suspension a bit with the jack and cranked the steering to the right and the left a bit to try to change the angle/stress on the joint. Nothing budges at all. The second round of the fight was running long... Using the tie rod end seperator, I drove the wedge in as far as it would humanly go, and then started pushing down on it to to pop it loose. Finally I put most of my weight on it. The tool slipped loose and my face came down and hit the fender full force. Pretty stars swirling. No blood or broken bones/cartilidge, but I do have a bit of a shiner. And the tie rod is still firmly wedged into the knuckle. I even went back a few hours later and worked on it some more - no joy. The car is rather useless without steering. What's next? Tom . [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnewsYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/