Stuck inner tie rods

[whiteboyslo]

I don't know if your 4WD is different from my 2WD, but on mine the inner joint is lined up in such a way that the fork goes in almost perpendicular to the ground. I ended up using a small jack under the fork to shove it up there. By the time it popped, I damn near had the wheel off the ground!

Mike

 

[94burbk1500]

I must've gotten lucky, I just gave the studs a good whack with a hammer and it gave me plenty of room to get my pickle fork in there.

 

[Jared Jackson]

an air hammer is great for suspension work, but a map gas torch is great for everything

rarely have I ever had to apply heat to anything to get it loose... maybe it's just the climate here?

 

[cjmspartans]

Got the new tie rods in! The alignment was way off so I had to make little adjustments to get it straight to the eye. Taking it into the shop this weekend to align it. It's weird, I know it's not aligned properly but the general feeling of the steering is much better. Definitely tighter, and my awful squeaking noise is gone. So glad I did this job lol

Bonus with doing this job... I discovered that the previous owners installed a block heater. There's quite a bit of corrosion on the unit its self but I plugged it in and it appears to work. Now I'm winter ready lol

I don't know if your 4WD is different from my 2WD, but on mine the inner joint is lined up in such a way that the fork goes in almost perpendicular to the ground. I ended up using a small jack under the fork to shove it up there. By the time it popped, I damn near had the wheel off the ground!

Mike

I could get the fork in that way, but didn't bother. If only I thought of using my bottle jack with the fork, though... that could have worked. None the less, the puller I rented worked great.

I must've gotten lucky, I just gave the studs a good whack with a hammer and it gave me plenty of room to get my pickle fork in there.

In a perfect world, lol. My luck with this truck has been pretty bad but it's running well with the help of my money tree, lots of swearing and some beer

rarely have I ever had to apply heat to anything to get it loose... maybe it's just the climate here?

It's a variable in the equation. My Chevy Cobalt spent the majority of its life in California with a few years in Michigan. I can remove most things on it without any trouble. Our old Saturn Vue? It spent the majority of its life in Michigan... the roads and the winters really didn't treat it well and there were definitely rust issues despite us washing the undercarriage often. We had to get the rear brakes worked on and the mechanic said it was a fight every step of the way. Hopefully my Cobalt and Suburban fare well in the Colorado winters... I guess they use road salt now which is a change from when I lived here as a kid.