2 Grand Master
Steering link problems, I need some more help
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.
Left tie rod to center
right tie rod to center
left tie rod
right tie rod
Last edited by BigKriss; 07-13-2005 at 07:00 AM.
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
Major Contributor
Too late for this trick, but...
...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.
Anthony
03/64 production
'91M5 - 11/90, was mine, it's Jim's now.
Super Moderator
Those ball studs are a morse taper, meaning that the
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.
Originally Posted by 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.
Left tie rod to center
right tie rod to center
left tie rod
right tie rod
Green Beret Special Ops
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.
95 E34 530I V2.37
===========
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy
Super Moderator
If you read his first post you'll see that he already has
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.
Major Contributor
I think my cordless Makita impact wrench would be of use here.
It prolly isn't strong enough to tear anything up.
Good to see ya back on the board Bill.
erased due to slander
Green Beret Special Ops
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.
95 E34 530I V2.37
===========
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy
3 Grand Master
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
Big, Big Time Poster
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.
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