Fecking track rod ends... argh!!! Help?!

[Dave_S]

Okay - so figured I'd go out this morning and do the track rod ends on the 80 Series... 2 hours later and I still can't get the drivers side one to budge - tried 2 different splitters (and managed to bend the one I've had for 20 odd years, which was a first), the 2 hammers method, and tried heating with a torch (I don't have Oxy).... Still no joy. Debating removing the steering arm and getting the bugger pressed out at this rate... Any other ideas before I lose the plot with this? Thanks guys.

 

[Dave2000]

Just putting on my flame proof suit.......right, turn steering so the joint is as exposed as possible, look around the eye of joint for a casting mark.

Now with a decent engineering hammer (not club hammer), give the eye a single hard clout, you will know if you hit it right, you will be rewarded with a solid clunk, the joint will part.

It's about getting the hammer contact spot on, after 48 years under the bonnet (wheel arch) it has NEVER failed.

Regards

Dave

 

[Dave_S]

Cheers Dave - I've been doing these for 30 odd years myself and this is genuinely the first one that's got me stumped!

I presume you mean the eye on the steering arm itself, yes? I guess the magic is finding the exact spot to hit...
I'll have to have another look this afternoon and see if I can spot the casting mark you referred to.

TBH I'm not sure what a decent engineering hammer would look like - I have a 4lb lump hammer and a pretty decent claw hammer, which has usually been good enough for most jobs.

In the meantime I've left it sitting under pressure with a load of Plusgas on in.

 

[Chris]

You know you have to take the nut off underneath Dave ....

Sorry.

When I've had one of these buggers, I've put the splitter on, tightened it up good then done the 2 hammer method. Maybe heat first then clout it. Having it under tension seems to help. Also put it under tension and just leave it a while. Never had one actually beat me but I have been close.

 

[Richard Turner]

What's a 2 hammer method?

 

[hopeless wanderer]

What's a 2 hammer method?

Whack opposite sides at the same time with hammers, someone will explain the physics but all I can say is I found it incredibly hard to time the strikes to be at the same time.... I'd be a crap drummer.

 

[Chris]

I am a drummer and it's still very hard. There's never enough room to swing. Perhaps I am a crap drummer.

Oh, hang on. Just remembered ..

 

[Dave_S]

Thanks guys. I've tried all sorts this afternoon and no joy, so parked it up with the Splitter screwed down tight and will leave it overnight and look at it again tomorrow. I love these "quick" jobs...

 

[Richard Turner]

Funny how hitting the end of the thread never works, you would think it would as it is a cone shape. I have never failed using Dave's method with a nice engineer's hammer.

We have these types at work.

This one is the best. It has a little bearing in the end so it stays central. You always have to whack the hub with a hammer when it is loaded as well though.

 

[Chris]

I have one of those fork ones two, but it's always a last resort. Not that it works, it's just the last resort. Then I get serious. The first set in the top pictures are the ones I use.

 

[frank rabbets]

I have a sledge hammer against one side then hit it with a lump the other side. The art is to not let the blow move the arm around but let all the energy go into the joint. If the arm moves at all when hit the energy is lost.

 

[Dave_S]

My splitter is similar to the first one Richard pictured - had the breaker bar on it and managed to get enough torque through it to begin to bend the lower arm without actually popping the blasted joint. Then made the mistake of taking the grinder to the ball joint in the stupid idea of getting more clearance... which has done nothing other than now making the truck immobile - so I'm committed now (or should be, perhaps). Feck it, start again tomorrow...

 

[Towpack]

I ended up breaking the fork on one of the forked type splitters when I changed mine A combination of (limited) heat, hammer blows and tension from the splitter came to nothing. Bought another splitter, same type, tightened it up as far as I dared and left it on overnight soaked in some anti seize stuff and it was free next morning.

 

[clivehorridge]

Loading with a splitter and then applying the hammer method has always worked for me, even on the stubborn ones, eventually.

As said, there’s never enough room to swing, but if you can get the hammer strike in line with the arm, then the hammer strike will be much more effective.

It will still work even though you’ve cut the ball off, i had to remove a taper after the ball had seized and had sheared off, so the hammer method was my only option.

Try to get the hammer strike directly in line, straight down the axis of the arm, it will pop.

Hitting the thread has the action of expanding the taper and making it stick tighter, do not hit the thread, EVER!

Best of luck... Dave

 

[frank rabbets]

You could always cut the arm off the steering box, Then you could put it on the vice and hit it easily with a hammer lol.

 

[Dave_S]

Thanks for the advice Frank, I'll keep that in reserve for now.

 

[frank rabbets]

Not too sure if the steering box would take a very heavy blow.

 

[Dave_S]

Success! New splitter applied (after leaving the old one on over night and under pressure) and a couple of sharp taps and "bang", taper shot out like a bullet. Thanks for the advice all.

 

[AndyCook]

Nice one, I hate it when quick jobs turn out to be a hassle

 

[Chris]

Result.