61a Posted July 1, 2007 Share Posted July 1, 2007 Has anyone got any good ideas for removing stubborn track rod ends. I have two to replace for the up coming MOT. One, which looks original came out fairly easily . The other one which is definately a replacemet model is being a complete sod to get out. I have left it in the vice and sprayed it liberally with WD40, ready to attack it again tomoorow. Any ideas ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted July 1, 2007 Share Posted July 1, 2007 You belt it a lot where the threads are with LR tool #1. Breaks the rust seal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61a Posted July 1, 2007 Author Share Posted July 1, 2007 Thanks . I shall beat seven bells out of it tomorrow !!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithjh Posted July 1, 2007 Share Posted July 1, 2007 Place in vice, lots of heat i use oxy/acet, stiltsons to wind them off. Regards Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted July 1, 2007 Share Posted July 1, 2007 try tapping a cold-chisel into the slot that runs down the end of the track rod... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muck Truck Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 big vice and pair of stiltsons with a peice of scofold pole and brute force, thats what i had to use. Someone had to sit on the bench tho cause i was lifting it up before it finaly started to move. The other side just came of with mole grips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted July 2, 2007 Share Posted July 2, 2007 big vice and pair of stiltsons with a peice of scofold pole and brute force, thats what i had to use. Someone had to sit on the bench tho cause i was lifting it up before it finaly started to move. The other side just came of with mole grips When I did the discovery ones I had to get a larger mate to do the swinging on the stilsons - it was twisting his dad's entire shed In theory you shouldn't use much heat as it will change the temper of the metal, but you'll be lucky if you can shift them without. You certainly shouldn't do what I resorted to to shift the disco ones, and heat them up then stick them in a bucket of cold water I guess if it gets to that point you should really shell out for a new track rod. Can't remember who told me to do this, but it was someone on this forum; when you reassemble the track rod and drag link, fill it with engine oil. This very gradually works it's way out through the threads and stops them rusting up again, so next time you need to do the tracking it'll be easy - works beautifully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61a Posted July 3, 2007 Author Share Posted July 3, 2007 Its still soaking in WD40 as I haven't had time to attack it yet. Interesting idea about engine oil. A friend at work who used to work on London buses has suggested copper grease to make future replacement easier. Has anyone tried this ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Copper grease is good for just about anything though I have been told it shouldn't be used on boats as it can have some sort of electrolytic reaction with salt water. If you can't use copper grease then graphite grease is not far behind... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve b Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 I always grease in the tube and up the trackrod thread copper slip grease is good but anything will make next time a whole lot easier Oh yeah and what Jim said lay it on the vice closed jaws and tickle it with a no1 Cheers Steveb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Its still soaking in WD40 as I haven't had time to attack it yet. Interesting idea about engine oil. A friend at work who used to work on London buses has suggested copper grease to make future replacement easier. Has anyone tried this ? I've used copper grease on track rod ends before engine oil (I have a bit of reputation for plastering everything in the stuff...) but the engine oil works much better. Probably just because there's far more of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61a Posted July 4, 2007 Author Share Posted July 4, 2007 With help from a neighbour, a bit of heat and two large pairs of stilsons it is now out. The end of the thread looks damaged as if someone hit it with a hammer before putting it in !!! Thankfully it doesn't appear to have damged the thread in the tube. Having suceeded with the replacement one I decided to replace the original one at the other end as there was some perishing on the rubber and it will save me a job in the future . A few minutes warming the joint with a blow torch and it came out as easily as anything. Does this say something about non-genuine parts or just the previous owners attempts at home mechanics ? Hopefully he hasn't had a go at too much else. Thanks for all the help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 If there is any question mark over it, I would replace the whole thing. It ain't that expensive and a track rod is one of the places you really really really don't want to suddenly discover a dodgy thread or some other unknown weakness at 80mph! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61a Posted July 4, 2007 Author Share Posted July 4, 2007 I think your right. For the sake of a few pounds its better to be safe than sorry. Jules Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 80 mph! I wish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Can't remember who told me to do this, but it was someone on this forum; when you reassemble the track rod and drag link, fill it with engine oil. This very gradually works it's way out through the threads and stops them rusting up again, so next time you need to do the tracking it'll be easy - works beautifully That was one of my better ideas... glad it worked for you.... I thin kthe problems stem from the fact that Landrover assemble these things dry, so you are onto a loser from day 1...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 LR don't like oil and grease - nasty stuff, makes a mess of the nice clean factory. That's why they make Defenders with about 50cc of grease in the wheel bearings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 LR don't like oil and grease - nasty stuff, makes a mess of the nice clean factory. That's why they make Defenders with about 50cc of grease in the wheel bearings. You have that problem as well Jim? We grease all the bearings either on the PDI or the 1000 mile service and have zero wheel bearing claims under warranty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 Well, all the vehicles we deal with are out of warranty so they have escaped from the dealer network, but we do a fine trade in regreasing bearings. We don't change many bearings at all, possibly because wading is rare so water doesn't get in there. You will laugh at this, we had a RR Classic (about 1989) in the other day, some clown had drilled and tapped the swivel housings to screw in a grease nipple. After the CV joint disintegrated on one side we found a couple of pumps of grease in there. It wasn't greasing anything at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted July 7, 2007 Share Posted July 7, 2007 Drivers side ones seem to be easier to get undone - something to do with oil dripping off the chassis rails straight onto them. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61a Posted July 8, 2007 Author Share Posted July 8, 2007 Well its all back together now. I set the centres of the track rod ends at 1230 mm as per the manual and the tracking was spot on !!! Had to remove the steering wheel and move it anti clockwise one tooth but nothing is perfect. It is amazing how much more accurate the steering fells now. I obviously got used to the free play in the old joints. Just the prop shaft doughnut to replace and its off to the friendly MOT man !!! Jules Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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