The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk changing tie rod ends

I have a 59 3100 and it still has the orginal tie rod ends and drag link and they need changed. The drag link looks easy to change. But my understanding is that I have to change to the new style tie rod ends that thread on. If anyone has done this how hard is it to press the old ball studs out of the steering arm? The LMC catalog is where I got the info that I have to change to different style.

bump

Using my pitman arm puller, it was a piece of cake to push the ball stud out of my 55 1st steering arm.

If the ball studs are still ok, you can rebuild the originals. The kits are still available. All you need to do is remove the plug in the end of the tie rod, everything should come out. You will need to make sure to properly load the tie rods after reassembly, as the toe will be affected if the preload isn't correct.

My experience with removing the balls has been that a press is not likely to do it. I had a machine shop try and they put about a gazillion pounds of pressure on it to no avail. I took the arms back home, cleaned up any possible "sholders" with a die grinder, applied a little PB blaster, than drove them out with a punch and a 3 lb hammer. Not an easy task.

I'm in the midst of doing this and have tried every trick I know. Heat, PB Blaster, more heat, hit it with a punch and hammer, etc. I drill holes in the center to "relieve the pressure" and repeated the above methods. I started to get slight movement on one of them. Now I'm down to drilling them out with a drill press.

This is holding up my entire front end rebuild.

On my 49 3100 1/2 ton, I noticed that there was a 1/32" +/- shoulder (?) that was about the same size as the "bump" I ground off the tie rod end. Once that was die grinded out, I drilled a hole to put a bolt in (be careful to drill straight down you don't have to drill far). I used a socket under the tie rod and a 22 oz. framing hammer to smack it out. I am sure there is a better way to do this, but it worked for me with my limited amount of tools and knowledge. Good luck.

I decided to go with the rebuild kits and having a mechanic do it. The mechanic thought my ball studs looked good. I have a limited amount of tools and knowledge like you 49 truck that is why I ask my questions here and a great site it is. I'll try to fix about anything but when it comes to something important like steering for now I leave it to the pros. thanks for the help.

1953shortstep,
This is something you might find that you can do. After finding out about that shoulder (chamfer really) and soaking the tie rod end with PB Blaster, the first one took 2 hours to get out. The second only took 15 minutes. Also, I have 1954 steering parts on my truck. BUT leave it to the PROS if you feel uncomfortable. I am like that when it comes to rebuilding caburetors and master cylinders.

I found this during a search as I want to insure my tie rod ends are either good or replaced during my restoration of my 58 1/2 ton frame. The PO has left the original type tie rod ends on but there are no zerks in them, just a hole and a rubber/metal piece that looks like it would button up to cover the zerk? Are the zerks (pipe thread available? How do I determine if these ends are good? What is involved in replacing with the new style? I did the drag link already. Can I do this in place or does the assembly get removed and pressed out professionally? Thanks for your insight.

You can't tell much about them unless you take them apart, clean up the parts, and check for wear. Not having grease fittings would be a red flag for me as they may not have had grease for years. I had to take everything apart to install the replacements in mine. As others noted previously they don't come out easily.
Fred

You should be able to buy a zerk fitting for next to nothing and try it out, the threads should all be standard, so as long as your threads are clean it should go in. If not you can always seal yours back up with silicone or something.

My experience with modern tie rod ends isn't good. I bought a pair from Classic Parts of America and the shaft portion was tapered. The original ball studs are not tapered and neither are the bores in the steering arms. I called the vender to check if I had the right parts and if this was what was intended and they said "yes".

I am running these and so far so good. I did cram some shim stock in the steering arms to help fill the gaps and tightened things down good and marked the nuts.

I was looking at the replacements on CPP's website and theirs look a little straighter. You should call and ask them, before buying.

Do you have a Service Manual? It outlines how to reassemble the stock tie rod and has good pictures. You should be able to do it as well as a "pro" I prefer to do as much as I can myself and know its done per the book.

To tell if your tie rods are bad, just jack up the front axle/wheel and see how much slop there is in the joint. I drove probably 1,000 miles on a worn one that I never checked. It would go vertically almost 1/2".

Removing the ball studs will be easier with the steering arms off. First grind off the peening until you see a circular outline. Then drill out the center to 5/16 and about a 1/2" deep. Then get a 3lb hammer and pin punch. I never tried heat or PB blaster, but they should help too.

see tech tip
it will work for later models also
http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/draglink_adjustable.html

I went out to the garage and heated it up so I could get a good look at the ends and get them off. They appear okay and I ordered a set of zerk fittings along with the new rebuild kit. The ball ends look good as well. The zerks were off as the front end because the PO had redone the frame and painted everything prioe to selling it. Unless there is a real good reason to not use the original tie rod ends in refurbished condition, I will get these cleaned up and leave them original with the new parts. Any history of these having some sort of failure that I need to be concerned about. The appear to be of sound design if maintained. Thanks for your thoughts.