Well, after all the problems I've been having with my front rack:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=405210

I just swapped the entire lower assembly from my old 89 CRX si onto my 88 civic dx. everything is going smoothly, except that on the driver's side tierod, the threaded stud just spins when I try to put the castle nut on. Help! How do I fix this? can I use the one off of my 88 civic rack on the CRX one? How do I make sure that it is aligned properly? Any advice? please help!


[Modified by Mr. S, 2:25 PM 2/14/2003]

 

Anyone??

 

you can get a brand new tie rod end if the one you have is broken (stud spins when you try to tighten the castle nut). or get some air tools to put it on.

 

try hitting the ball joint into place (like with a 3lb sledge). give it one good whack and THEN try screwing on the castle nut. its possible the ball joints thread's or the castle nut's threads are crossed.

sounds like you need a new ball joint though.

 

the threads on the balljoint must be a bit torn up. the castle nut should slip on fine. the other thing is that the baljoint must be worn and on its way out. but, what you can do is try to retap the threads, using whatever you can to lock the balljoint stem in place. also when you try to install it again, try jacking up the control arm a bit. it helps to give it a little angle to add friction. the very last option which i've done is cut a slot at the bottom the balljoint thread and use a screwdriver to hold it in place as you screw the nut. other than that, youve just destroyed the balljoint. time to get a new tie rod.

 

they dont sell the ball join for the tie rod separately. call LORDCO, they carry new ALTROM tie rod ends for $49 99 and $35 ifu have discount

 

You can try this

take the tierod out of the knuckle

take a small vice grip(like the mini vice grips) and lock it down on the smooth part of the tierod bolt...the part that sits in the steering knuckle.

then take your nut and thread it on...if its tight use the ratchet or wrench untill the nut goes on smoothly by hand.

then put the tie rod in the knuckle and try again...should work.

 

Thanks for the help everyone!

Are the Civic/CRX ones the same? I may just yank the one off of my civic rack and try it... I guess the balljoint must be completely screwed if it's just spinning like that. Man I'm getting sick of this bullshit.

 

did you try what I said?

sometimes the ball joint isn't bad its just the threads are either dirty or a little messed up because the are hammered on when removing them.


[Modified by 89civicdx, 11:50 AM 2/15/2003]

 

yeah, I'll give it a shot, but I don't think I'll be able to torque the nut to spec. You know it's funny, I don't remember the ball joints being bad when I pulled the rack off of my CRX.