I am replacing my inner and outer tie rods on.

SEAN03

MEMBER
1992 CADILLAC DEVILLE
135,000 MILES

Hi I am replacing my inner and outer tie rods on the driver side. They said they will fail them because their is too much play in them. I have gotten the outer tie rod off that was a pain I had to hit it with a mal to get it out because it was rusted in their. I would like to add these are all originals on this car. They have never been changed. The car is a 1992 Cadillac Deville 4.9L V8. Now I am working with the inner tie rod another pain. It took me forever to get the boot off of it. I finally got it off. Now I am having a problem trying to turn the inner tie rod to come off. I have used vice grips on that giant ball that the boot was covering. It will not budge. I also used WD 40 thinking that would help nope. I may not have the muscle to break this loose. Can these get frozen and how do you remove it. I am going to my last option tomorrow. A plumbers wrench. If that does not break it loose then I am stuck on what to do besides take it somewhere. I might call my dad to break it loose since he is way stronger then me. Thanks. Any suggestions on how to get this thing out. I don't have a wrench big enough to turn this thing.

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

Hi Sean. There's a special socket for the inners on a rack and pinion assembly. Actually there's two designs. For Fords and most Chryslers it is just a regular socket with a very long neck to slip over the entire tie rod end. You turn it with a regular 1/2" ratchet. With a long ratchet it will not be hard to get it loose. They have two sizes. My socket is stepped to fit both sizes with one tool. For most GM products you will notice there's no hex for a socket to fit on. There's two flats on the backside of that housing. The tool for that comes with a set of five or six different size crow's foot inserts. One of them will fit nicely over those two flats. They have two little ears on the outside that you slide the special socket over, then you turn it with a ratchet. Those sockets allow you to use a torque wrench too when you install the new part.

There is another special tool for GMs to crush those two flats when you're done. If you can get a c-clamp on there, that might work too. Crushing it in two places is their safety in case you don't tighten it enough and the threads come loose. The bent-over parts will at least prevent it from unthreading all the way.

To see what those tools look like, go to the MAC or Matco web sites and look under "Steering, Suspension, and Alignment" tools. Both of these sockets are about 15" long and they aren't terribly expensive. You will also likely be able to borrow them from an auto parts store that rents or borrows tools. They should have the crimping tool too if you need that.