Alrite how the expletive do I get my tie rod ends off . . . . I see the half square thing you have to unscrew (under the rubber pillow thing) But I dont know how to undo it, their too small of space to get it loose . . . . .

 

half square?

i think youre referring to the castle nut and the cotter pin thats supposed to go in there. but your description hardly describes a typical cotter pin. youre supposed to unbend the cotter pin straight, and just pull it out with some pliers. it sounds like someone tried to use something other than a cotter pin, or fubared something in there.

ultimately, you just gotta pull whatever is in there out. try tapping it out from the opposite side.

 

no its not a cotter pin, im talking about under the rubber sleeve on the end of the inner tie rod, where its all greasy and you can rotate the rod in circles, i need to disconnect that b/c i have new inner/outter ties. and i sure as hell aint paying 215 bucks to install it.

 

oh right. sorry.

yeah, those are a bitch. theyre lock washers that prevent the tie rod from coming off. i just did them the other night on a steering rack i had to ship out.

ill tell you this much, its MUCH MUCH MUCH easier to take them out when the rack is off the car.

youre SUPPOSED to stick a small screwdriver in there and UNBEND the tabs on both sides. what sucks is that when its installed in the car, the angles can almost be inaccessible. it helped a lot that i had a really small snap-on pick and pry bar to help pry it away. then i used a vice grip to completely flatten the piece. once its flat on both sides, you can unscrew the tie rod from the rack using a 19mm and 22mm wrench, respectively.

HOWEVER, this is my ghetto way of doing it. just get an adjustable wrench in there, dont worry about unbending the tabs. and wrench the damn thing off. if you can get a good grip on it, you can overcome the lock washer and it will just break. then just buy another one for $2. its worth the trouble.

good luck, i know theyre a pain.

 

wat is a rack . . . . . and how do i get it off . .lol . . . Yeah I think I got myself too deep. i have some omni shock/springs on the way, and the pillow is ripped on the tie rod . . . . euggghhhhhh my car blows. Ok I know wut ur talking about its like a square clip over the square thing i have to unscrew, right? even if thats off, I literally have 3 inches to move the wrench up and down to get the square thing attached to the <U>b a l l - j o i n t</U> . . . off?

The square thing looks like this (__), with of course a line ontop i couldnt make

 

uh... steering rack?

what do you mean "pillow"? the rubber "ribbed for her pleasure" boot?

yeah, its tight in there with all the control arms and axle and swaybar in the way. thats why i say its much easier to accomplish this with the steering rack completely out of the car.

ill have pictures tonite. i took some the other day when i was doing this.

btw, are you doing the passenger side? or both sides? if youre doing the passenger side, now is a GREAT time to replace that steering rack end bushing.

 

Actually I have it for both sides, but currently ive been working on the driver side. Where can I pick up these things you speak of, how much $, and why. And thank you for soon-to post picture. Tyson is da MiZaNnNnnn.

and the "pillow" I meant actually pillow on the outter rod. I was just throwing in there that its ripped hah.


Modified by BrokenRex at 6:19 PM 1/19/2006

 

the rack end bushing is an OEM part. just get it from the dealer or something. if you look inside the passenger side of the steering rack, its the white plastic thingy. and it only comes out with the tie rod off.

heres more info.
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1117870


buy some new outer tie rod BOOTS (not pillows). theyre like $3 each. helps save your tie rods...

 

Tyson, sounds like the clanking noises and garbage is definitly the rack bushing, thanks for teh thread link. Dont forget those pics :D, which I definitly need since the Haynes manual is just a bumbley-******* doodle book

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tyson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
heres more info.
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1117870


</TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks for the link Tyson. now i know what needs replaced on my ride. too bad i have no skills.

 

hopefully youve figured all this out by now.

this is the rack end bushing. looking from the passenger side.



here it is completely out.



now this is what we're talking about. the lcok washer. see how the tabs are bent.



here they are flattened. i used the vice grip to flatten it completely.





this is the tool i had available that made it a bit easier. i also used a small, sharp screw driver. first i used the pick side of the pry tool to punch the tab open a bit. then used the small screwdriver to open it up a little. then further opened it with the pry bar side of the pick. then finished it off with the vice grip.

like i said, much easier when its out of the car. its nearly impossible to do under the car. of course it helps if you drop the 4 bolts of the steering rack to get more wiggle room too. but its still crowded under there. having done this both ways now, i can say its worth the time to take the rack out completely.