The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Front Suspension

I am going to need to rebuild the front suspension on my '55 First Series 3100. I was looking on line and I can either buy a kit to rebuild the tie rod ends or install the newer design tie rod ends but (in fine print) it says once you remove the pin it has to be a straight shaft, not tapered I.e. are the '55 First series straight shafts? This is a daily driver. I am going to be putting radial tires on it. I don't think that would affect anything.
How hard is it to rebuild the original tie rods? Any ideas on which way I should go?

The original style are adjustable. If the pivot ball is not badly worn they can just be adjusted.

The adjustment described by Dave is your best hope. If the ball on the ball stud is worn, that complicates matters. I had to use a hydraulic press to remove the old ball-studs. That was the only hard part of this repair.

I have replaced the original tie-rod ends with original style replacement ends: right side, and left side (new/correct ball stud is included - Autozone also sells these); and, I have rebuilt the original tie-rod ends with the repair kit.

I think this is the correct style ball stud, if you are able to simply use the repair kit. Usually, the repair kit and ball stud are all you need.

So the easiest way to proceed is to take them apart to see if the balls are worn. They should be round and if they are not then you have to go to the next step.