tierod castle nut HELP!

[lasadoor]

driving home today the cotter pin gave out and the apparently stripped castle nut popped off, and the passeneger side tierod end was hanging free. I cant find a replacement castle nut close to home. Checked the local auto parts store, and hardware stores. Is this a special order part or what? What is the exact size and threadcount?

 

[bmc69]

??? a) the cotter pin is there only to prevent the castle nut from loosening after it is fully torqued. There is no "load" on that cotter pin, under any normal circumstances, that I could ever think of. Heck,,for that matter there is no real load on that nut either..it's only purpose is to seat the taper and that taper is what all the working loads are transmitted through

b) if the castle nut "popped off" and the threads were stripped (??) then its highly unlikely that you can simply put a new one back on and expect it to stay there.



I guess what I'm getting at is that your "failure" is indicative of some other odd problem and very uncommon. ME..I'd very much want to get to the bottom of what is really going on there. Heck, I hardly ever even bother to install the cotter pins on those ball joints..

 

[lasadoor]

the castle nut is stripped, vibration and pressure, most likely, caused it to press against and snap the cotter pin. only started looking for a new castle nut last night. hopefully this weekend i can find one locally. called a few salvage yards, but no luck on 70s bronco parts yet

 

[taipeichris]

Is it the long tie rod or the short one? If it's the short tie rod maybe you can just get a replacement tie rod from a parts store, I think they come with new castle nuts.

 

[lasadoor]

Is it the long tie rod or the short one? If it's the short tie rod maybe you can just get a replacement tie rod from a parts store, I think they come with new castle nuts.

it is the short end, i just took a look and im thinking i might do that and just replace the entire end piece

 

[bmc69]

the castle nut is stripped, vibration and pressure, most likely, caused it to press against and snap the cotter pin.

I'll try this again...under any possible normal circumstances that which you hypothesize cannot happen. Again..the cotter pin should never, ever be seeing a load and its presence is merely an extra bit of safety assurance should something weird ever happen that the taper connection would loosen. Under any normal circumstances that won't happen.

I'm not trying to beat you up; I'm trying to get you looking for the real culprit that caused your problem in this case; steering is a life-critical function after all. I assure you it was not the "failure" of the cotter pin that was anything remotely like the root cause here.

Buying a new tie rod end is a good idea...spend the time checking the mating fit between the taper on the new part and the taper in your steering arm. Properly installed, the castle nut carries virtually no load after it has done its job of pulling the taper together..and the cotter pin is of even less consequence.

 

[lasadoor]

@bmc69 i appreciate what you're saying, gonna get it sorted out (knock on wood) tomorrow.

 

[bmc69]

@bmc69 i appreciate what you're saying, gonna get it sorted out (knock on wood) tomorrow.

:rockin: From your PM it sounds like you'll have all the pieces you need to get that safely dealt with.

 

[ford man]

Try 9/16-18 threads per "

 

[lasadoor]

is there a trick to removing the passenger end of the tie-rod? loosened the clamp and sprayed lots of pb blaster, gonna use brute force, any other ideas...

or

could i simply swap the ball joints instead of the entire tie-rod end?

 

[jn2630]

brute force, maybe some heat

 

[slims75]

is there a trick to removing the passenger end of the tie-rod? loosened the clamp and sprayed lots of pb blaster, gonna use brute force, any other ideas...

or

could i simply swap the ball joints instead of the entire tie-rod end?

No you can not.

 

[gearida]

Take the tie rod to the vise and use a pipe wrench to twist the tie rod out of the sleeve.

 

[lasadoor]

Creative use of a pickle fork, lead pipe, and hi-lift handle got that sucker right off.

 

[gearida]

Are you looking to remove the tie rod from the spindle? Flip your castle bolt upside down on the tie rod loosely, smack the spindle not the tie rod right where it goes through. This will pop the tie rod out and a pickle fork will not be needed, which normally tears the rubber seal/boot.

 

[lasadoor]

Gearida, I was removing the passenger side tie rod end from the driver side. I do like your idea though.

 

[gnpenning]

Try putting a large hammer on one side then smacking the other side. Start light and work your way up as needed. this is the same concept of removing a rear drum.

 

[brianstrange]

I've seen this happen before on another vehicle. It can happen when a stripped nut is re-used, doesn't allow the tie rod end to fully seat into the spindle. The nut will eventually strip completely, then the rod and stud vibrates the cotter pin off. I'm glad nobody got hurt!