Ok so I tried to get my car's wheels aligned and they call me in about 5 min. after they lift the car and tell me that they can NOT perform an alignment on my CRX because the Outer Tie Rod and Upper Ball Joints need replacing, So I went to EBAY and found them and now I'm wondering....

Can anyone shed some light on this subject at all?

How Difficult is this going to be?

Should I take this to a professional after I get the parts in?

Can anyone help?

 

off topic but, Why did you convert your mpfi HF to Dual Point?

 

I got into CRXs when I saw this one friend of mine race his against a Talon and kicked the **** out of it (He had a CRV Motor in his CRX)...I bought my car for about 300 dollars from some hot chick that had it parked for like a year because the head gasket was blown. This is why I am not sure about the Model of the car being an HF or DX because I had a hell of a time catching this girl for the title and finally got her mother to do the paper work for her and it doesn't say what model on the title, anyhow; I had it painted first cause it was that ugly light blue color and finally had the head gasket replaced only to have a busted head. At the time, a friend of mine had a DX running and was everywhere when he lends it to a friend of his that was drunk and totals the front end of the car, but lucky me the motor wasn't touched at all, so I asked him if I could have the motor for a $100 dollars just to drive mine around while I was saving for my motor and body kit. So he says yes and then I get my motor swapped out for another $200 by some friends....the motor has been in ever since. So basically, I am still a rookie and don't know crap about CRX's and which motor to put in but I love my CRX and I can't wait to have it running 13's or lower. I still haven't decided which motor is best for 13's or lower and I want to get this thing looking awesome.

 

okay on the upper ball joint you will have to remove the upper controll arm its a lot easier with it off. to do so you will remove the ball joint nut and the two control arm located in the under the hoodand the two strut mount nut that hold the strut to the car. you are going to force the strut down and work the controll arm out over the strut assemble. after its out you will need the ball joint press which you can rent at auto zone they have it cheeper then most places. you will press the ball joint out and the new one ina and put everhthing back let you removed it.

for the outer tie rod you will remove the tie rod nut and clamp the tierod adjustment rod witha vise grip or something so it will not turn. helpful tip mark the possition of the rierod on the tie rod adjustment rod before removing it will help return the aligment close enough. and replace the new one.

the whole thing will take most people about 1 hour if you have all the tool available.

 

I can't get the OLD TIE ROD END LOOSE because the OLD TIE ROD ADJUSTMENT BAR doesn't loosen at all (it does spin freely). Right now I have 2 different pipe wrenches on it holding it really tight and when I got to loosen it the whole car will move but it will not get loose....

How can I take this off? It almost feels like they are welded together. Here are some pictures so you can see what I am talking about.




PS. aside from this everything else has gone ok.


Modified by 88DXREX at 3:35 PM 9/13/2006


Modified by 88DXREX at 3:36 PM 9/13/2006


Modified by 88DXREX at 3:37 PM 9/13/2006

 

CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP??

All responses are appreciated.

I was told by a friend that I may have to heat this up with a torch and then when its really hot attempt to loosen it...Is this true?

 

I hope you do realise that there is a lock nut that needs to be loosened first, and then you can loosen the tie rod end itself. when I did mine they were fairly tight, but once I loosened the nut that is tightened against the rod end, I was able to remove the rod end by hand.

 

whoah whoah....

yeah, like nutz said, you have to loosen the nut first!

its as big sucker 22mm wrench is what you need. its a tough one to break loose too. and put the tie rod balljoint back in and loosely tighten the nut, so it keeps it from rotating.

break the big nut and the end will come off.

 

The picture shows that there isn't any more Lock Nuts only the tie rod on the tie rod end......What Lock Nut are you guys talking about????

I am working on this car now and I still don't see any 22mm LARGE LOCK NUT?? Is it under the black rubber cover furthest away from my hand in the bottom picture?

 

that big bolt in between to two pipe wrenchs in your pic is the lock nut were talking about.

 

and use some goddam metric wrenches. enough with the pipe wrenches.

 

it is easier to break it with the tie rod put back together, you then only need one wrench. Be carfull the last thing you want to do is strip the bolt

 

is the price tag still on that wrench....lol man, Yea this will be much better if you just go invest in a good pair of METRIC wrenches, and for the record vice grips are better

 

There is barely any room to break that nut off with a 22mm. I guess thats going to be my next problem... and yea the pipe wrenches are brand new...I was a brainstorming Mother effer...I figured that I had to twist from the rod so I knew that the only thing that would work is pipe wrenches; I put everything back together and took the car to the store and bought some freakin Pipe wrenches that didn't do squat for me.




Modified by 88DXREX at 8:39 PM 9/13/2006

 

from the perpective that your picture was taken, you will want to turn it clockwise, or in other words screw it in towards the steering rack in order to loosen it. (yes, it is normal left hand thread, it just has to be seperated from the outer rod end)

also, there are flat spots on the inner tie rod right next to the boot that you can get a normal wrench on, and the spot that looks like you've almost stripped is part of the outer rod, so it will come off with the rest of the outer rod.

 

From my perspective I would say if this is to hard to do, I would take it to a mechanic.

 

Invest in a really good set of vice grips, heat the lock nut up till it's almost glowing red, then turn to loosen with the vice grips. Also, heat the threads up too and loosen the tie rod end. Once it's all broken free, just unscrew and let cool .

 

get a 22mm wrench, not your crappy pipe wrenches. put the car on jackstands as high as you can get and make sure its sturdy. then kick the wrench. yes ,they are a bitch, but i havent come across one that i couldnt eventually break free. (if you use the right tools).

otherwise,
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speed--Freak &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">From my perspective I would say if this is to hard to do, I would take it to a mechanic.</TD></TR></TABLE>

im with this guy. you seriously are not making me confident that you can handle even this simple task. i hope you stay safe.


the area near the boot on the inner tie rod is a bit rounded off naturally. but its because you arent supposed to gorilla it. you were only supposed to wrench that part with a normal 14mm wrench AFTER you got the lock nut off.

and there is no goddam "bolt" in your picture. what youre pointing to on the outer tie rod is just part of the tie rod. if anything, there is a lock NUT, not bolt. im not so much calling you a dumbass, just everyone else calling it a "bolt".

 

You gonna love my drawings.


Once the nut is correctly backin off, unscrew the outer tie rod end.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Contender25 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You gonna love my drawings.
Once the nut is correctly backin off, unscrew the outer tie rod end.</TD></TR></TABLE>

absolutely horrible advice.

that pipe wrench is not doing jack on the round inner tie rod. and holding the outer tie rod is pointless.

just put the damn outer tie rod back in place and screw the nut back on loosely to hold it in place. and use the right 22mm wrench to break the nut loose.

this isnt trying to work on the international space station here. its just a goddam nut.

 

Yeah or you could do that, either way it's not a big deal, but then again what i said was technically the same thing. Even if you have the outer tie rod end unbolted, you can still hold it with a pair of vice grips "if your not a *****" and crack loose the 22mm, but what do i know, i only done it in real life like alot.

 

Thanks guys for all your help I am going to attempt to work on it again today and if I can't do it then I think I am going to just take it to a mechanic (Although I am pretty stubborn sometimes so maybe not)....anyhow Thanks again I really appreciate all your help.

 

contender, the problem with just trying to hold the outer tie rod with another wrench is that trying to torque the lock nute will also induce a moment that just makes it harder to hold the outer tie rod in place.

much easier if you constrain the end in the knuckle. it does a better job of holding it in place.

 

Yeah that is correct, your right, and.............whatever!, well anyways if you do happen to do that, just turn the steering wheel all the way to the right to get good space.