Tie rod ball joint (1 Viewer)

[SnoFJ]

So I'm attempting to rebuild my knuckles for the first time. I'm trying to separate the tie rod ROM the knuckle arm by pressing up in the tie rod and knocking the knuckle free. It wasn't working. So I used a ball joint seperater. As soon as I whacked it one time, a bunch of grease came out. I'm assuming I just blew the ball joint.

This is my first time working on a solid axle. I'm guessing I need to replace the ball joint now? Can you replace the ball joint or do you need a new tie rod? On my gs300, the upper control and ball joint are one piece. You can't replace the ball joint without buying a whole new arm or aftermarket arm with replaceable ball joints

 

[SnoFJ]

Tie rod from* (damn auto correct). Looks like I'll need a new tied rod end link?

 

[I Lean]

You probably either split the boot, or just pushed grease out of it. It didn't necessarily hurt the tie rod end.

You don't need to remove it to service your knuckles. But if you do want to get it out, smack on the end of the steering arm REALLY HARD with a large hammer. (in your picture, swing the hammer from the right edge of the picture into the end of the arm) That's the method I've had the most success with, in every vehicle I've tried it on. Obviously, make sure the nut is loose first.

 

[SnoFJ]

I'll inspect the boot soon. The FSM and a video I'm watching says to remove it. I used a regular carpenters hammer to try to knock it loose, no luck, so I stepped up to a 4-lb hammer, no luck. That's why I tried out the ball joint seperater.

When I wiggle the tie rod, I can hear metal on metal in the ball joint. If the boots not torn, and I squeezed the grease out, how do I get more grease in

 

[SnoFJ]

And yes the nut was loose lol. I'm familiar with car work. This one's just barely been maintained before I got it last year and everything is a fight to break free

 

[SnoFJ]

Boot looks fine from what I can tell. Am I able to put more grease back in them?

 

[SnoFJ]

So I even used a tie rod puller and can't get it to budge. The bolt on the puller wants to slip off the ball joint bolt, causing deformation. Any tips?

How do I do a knuckle rebuild without seperating the arm from the tie rod? If I unbolt the arm from the base of the knuckle where the bearing is, can I just move it out of the way to get the truneon bearing out?

In the picture, there's no castle nut on. But when I was actually attempting to break it free, the castle nut was on as a guide for the puller bolt

 

[Rookie2]

So I even used a tie rod puller and can't get it to budge. The bolt on the puller wants to slip off the ball joint bolt, causing deformation. Any tips?
View attachment 1391953

That puller is different than the one I've got, and I can kind of see why it might tend to slip off. Mine is U shaped with a bolt running up the center, so when you put it on, it's grabbing each side of the arm housing and concentrically pressing the tie rod end out. It really has no where to go. The one you have is one sided, so any imbalance when the bolt presses the tie rod end is going to cause it to want to start to twist or slip off.

 

[jfz80]

You should be able to leave it in place for a knuckle rebuild IIRC. Just remove nuts from steering arm studs in bottom of knuckle and let them hang or tie em up to something but steering arm should have enough droop to clear studs and you can remove knuckle


Another thought if that puller can move to the side of the arm Torque it down as much as possible and then hit the arm hard as described above. Your looking for the resonance to break it free.

Or there is a puller mentioned many times on here that has great results. Sounds like what rookie has

 

[SteamerF18]

Post #6 talks about leaving the steering arm connected.

Front Axle Rebuild - For FAQ

 

[midfat]

A little trick that's never failed me. Take a 3# mini-sledge and hold it against the back of the steering arm, right behind the tie rod. Take a second 3# sledge and give a few hard hits on the opposite side. The force concentrated into the joint causes a monetary "ovaling" of the taper hole and pops the joint apart like a hot knife through butter.

 

[SnoFJ]

That puller is different than the one I've got, and I can kind of see why it might tend to slip off. Mine is U shaped with a bolt running up the center, so when you put it on, it's grabbing each side of the arm housing and concentrically pressing the tie rod end out. It really has no where to go. The one you have is one sided, so any imbalance when the bolt presses the tie rod end is going to cause it to want to start to twist or slip off.

I have a pitman arm puller too. But after some PB blaster and a few more hits of the hammer, it came off. So I'm still trying to figure out how to get more grease in the sealed ball joint of the tie rod end.

And while re-assembling the knuckle, I messed up the inner axle seal. So I'll have to call Toyota or a local Land cruiser shop tomorrow to see if they have any in stock.

Gotta love working on something for the first time and having everything go wrong. I'm sure I'll get it done, but as always, the only thing I can plan on is nothing going according to plans

 

[mudgudgeon]

A pitman arm style puller is the best.
The little one you have pictured is too small to get positioned properly.
They typically take quite a bit of force to get the to crack free.

I would replace the tie rod end, there is no reliable way to re-grease them. A worn tie rod end can cause vague steering, especially if you have larger tires

 

[Rifleman]

Before you start to put this all back together, you might want to check the threads on your tie rod. Looking at your photo, it kind of looks like the threads on your tie rod may have been deformed by the puller you were using. If that's the case, your castle nut may not screw back on. I just ran in to this problem while helping a friend do his front axle rebuild. He used a puller like the one you were using, the pressure it put on the stud, ended up deforming the first few threads, so the nut would no longer thread back on.

 

[half k cruiser]

Also your tie rod puller looks a bit undersized for the job. Thats why its off at that funny angle. Autozone sells one branded OEM that has a 3 inch opening. It seats in there deeper than that.

 

[SnoFJ]

Before you start to put this all back together, you might want to check the threads on your tie rod. Looking at your photo, it kind of looks like the threads on your tie rod may have been deformed by the puller you were using. If that's the case, your castle nut may not screw back on. I just ran in to this problem while helping a friend do his front axle rebuild. He used a puller like the one you were using, the pressure it put on the stud, ended up deforming the first few threads, so the nut would no longer thread back on.

Once the puller started to slip, I took it off and threaded the nut on. It started to deform them, but it wasn't bad and straightened back out when I threaded the nut on

 

[Rifleman]

Once the puller started to slip, I took it off and threaded the nut on. It started to deform them, but it wasn't bad and straightened back out when I threaded the nut on

That's good to hear, when my friend damaged his we were not that lucky. In his case, it damaged the first few threads, we tried to thread a threading die on the stud to repair the damaged threads. The stud just kept turning in the socket, so he ended up buying a new one, lesson learned.

 

[Sarmajor]

I have rebuilt my front end more times than I care to remember and have NEVER removed the tie rod end ball joints. A complete waste of time unless you are going to replace the ball joints. Best way to damage a perfectly good ball joint.
Replaced my ball joints at 345k km and only used a couple of decent sized hammers to shock the taper loose by bashing either side of the steering arm where the ball joint is located.

 

[Rifleman]

I have rebuilt my front end more times than I care to remember and have NEVER removed the tie rod end ball joints. A complete waste of time unless you are going to replace the ball joints. Best way to damage a perfectly good ball joint.
Replaced my ball joints at 345k km and only used a couple of decent sized hammers to shock the taper loose by bashing either side of the steering arm where the ball joint is located.

The funny thing is, my friend has a copy of the factory service manual for his truck, and per the manual, it says to remove the tie rod ends. So we were just following what the manual said to do. It would seem that after reading this thread, the info in the service manual is wrong. In fact you don't need to remove the tie rod ends, in order to complete this job.

 

[Sarmajor]

There are many things in the FSM that while technically correct are based on perfect world situations where pulling everything to bits is ok. For us the less we take apart the less we have to put back together. And also less chance to damage something that did not need to be touched to accomplish the repair.

Just unbolt the 4 bolts that hold the steering arm onto the knuckle, persuade the cones to come out and let the arms hang there from the ball joints.
Check that ball joint out carefully. Hopefully you haven't damaged the rubber. My new ball joints came with grease nipples so I can actually maintain them.