Tie Rod Ends Stuck! 1999 Dodge Ram HD Steering

[Botlebruiser]

Ok, so I've had a bad shake/wobble on the highway for a few weeks now. I had a third gen adjustable track bar with drop bracket, Carli Coils, Bilstein 5100s, TGC tubular upper and lower control arms and some nice tie rod ends and so I had my buddy install them.You really need a pretty nice spring compressor to install these springs right because they are so much longer than the oem springs. I had the rear u-join on the driveshaft replaced as well while it was sitting. It was the only bad one. So I've tried two different pickle forks, and a small press so far. I flipped the castle nut over and hit the top of the nut with a small sledge. They aren't even budging. The small one on the driver side, which is more like an edge isn't even very old and it's giving me problems too. So I'm curious if there is a trick to this. My truck has the HD steering which is the good stuff. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm running an errand so I'll take some pictures and upload them when I get back in an hour or so. 

Edited October 2, 2016 by Botlebruiser

[Me78569]

Bigger hammer is all I can say.

[Royal Squire]

Use two large hammers. Hold one solid against one side of the knuckle(the hole that tie rod goes into) and whack the other side with the 2nd hammer. You can alternate hitting around the circumference of the hole. If you can get a good swing on it this will usually break them loose. Hope this makes sense to you. Good luck

[Wild and Free]

Pickle forks are worthless and are good at only destroying things you may want to reuse.

Best is a good heavy hammer and some good hard wraps against the housing itself not the actual tie rod. They will most always pop loose by wrapping on the housing that the joint is stuck in rather than trying to get the joint itself out.

[Botlebruiser]

I'll give this a try. Rotating with each hammer. I read something along those lines on cumminsforum too

[JAG1]

 Sorry to get off topic............

 

 But, it so nice to see you guys making these trucks better than a 71,000 dollar new truck. I warms my heart to see the work you guys do.

 

I will never sell mine since the mods and expense made a very good truck for me and my wife. The way they build them we have to fight back with lots of hard work and learning.

[IBMobile]

2 hours ago, Wild and Free said:

Best is a good heavy hammer and some good hard wraps against the housing itself not the actual tie rod. They will most always pop loose by wrapping on the housing that the joint is stuck in rather than trying to get the joint itself out.

I all ways start out doing it this way↑   and if that doesn't work this way will↓

3 hours ago, Royal Squire said:

Use two large hammers. Hold one solid against one side of the knuckle(the hole that tie rod goes into) and whack the other side with the 2nd hammer

 

[TFaoro]

Air hammer works wonders.....

[Chris O.]

 I have no issues removing ball joints with this tool.

 

https://www.amazon.com/OTC-6297-Ball-Joint-Separator/dp/B0015PN010/ref=pd_sim_263_1?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0015PN010&pd_rd_r=XFS4R7H1QRD8QDB8RF3V&pd_rd_w=DG2BX&pd_rd_wg=Js0gy&psc=1&refRID=XFS4R7H1QRD8QDB8RF3V

Edited October 2, 2016 by Chris O.

[JAG1]

59 minutes ago, TFaoro said:

Air hammer works wonders.....

I need some air tools. Whats a good brand?

[Buzzinhalfdozen]

3 hours ago, JAG1 said:

I need some air tools. Whats a good brand?

I've had good luck with Ingersoll Rand. 

[TFaoro]

I've never had a Craftsman or Snap-on fail. Price can be rough though

[JAG1]

I have Ingersoll Rand impact for wheel lugs, but, I think some good air tools would help a lot now that I'm older. I like the air hammer idea and some other might be a die grinder. Thank you

[dripley]

Most of mine are from HF and Northen tool. Not the best but I do not use them that often. The price is much more bearable. But the decision is yours. Just dont buy on sale and wait till the warranty is up to use it. They can be bad out of the box.

[IBMobile]

  I find the home air compressor doesn't produce the volume of air to satisfactorily run air tools.   I have a 5.5 HP 25 gal tank compressor in my work van and find that it can't keep up with the demand the tools put on it.  I would need an 8-10 HP 60-80gal tank if I wanted to fully utilize the tools with out the wait time to build pressure back up. 

  To over come this problem I'm using battery powered impact tools.  My main stay is a Milwaukee 12 volt ¼ drive ratchet along with a Ryobe 18 volt ½ drive impact.   I think the Milwaukee 18 volt ½ drive has more torque and I'll get that one next.  All my other battery operated tools use the same size batteries so I carry at least two spare batteries of each type with me.  The down side to this is remembering to keep the batteries recharged and after 2-3 years the batteries need to be replaced. 

[Royal Squire]

I have a portable gas powered air compressor that is heavy enough that it's really not that portable. Recently was trying to dig a post hole by hand but the area I wanted the post in was pretty rocky. I fought with a bar for a while but then drug the compressor and my CP air hammer to the hole. Lying on my belly I reached down in the hole and broke up the rocks with that air hammer. Worked pretty good. Sorry to high jack thread

[IBMobile]

I haven't found a battery powered air hammer yet.

[JAG1]

I'm the one that hijacks the thread. It's my fault since this bad arm got me off on air hammers.

 

Royal Squire I've used a power drill to help dig fence posts, till the auger gets stuck and the drill turns you into a merry go round.

[Royal Squire]

My dad had a 5/8" gear reduction drill that ran very slow and had lots of power. Used it to mix 5 gallons of paint and drill post holes. Stuck tamping bar through "D" handle and 2 guys hang on