Im trying to replace my center drag link. I have all the pins out, and all the castle nuts off. For the life of me i cannot get the damn tie rods, steering dampner, and idler arm to come out of the holes. ive hammered the hell out of them. any suggestions?

 

pickle fork!
ball joint speader or whatever you want to call it...

it's a 2 prong wedge shaped fork you jam between the ball joint and the "hole"

They are really effective when used in an air hammer/chisel
they should have one for an air hammer/chisel at your local auto parts store

I had one for mine and it popped my linkage right off my steering box
I am in the middle of change my entire front linkage

good luck!

 

x2...........

and when you hit that fork... WHALE ON IT!!! DONT TICKLE IT!

 

The holes are tapered so make sure you are wailing on it in the right direction. It's more work, but I took the whole spindle off and then removed the tie rod ends. It is pretty difficult to swing a hammer up while laying on your back.

 

either pry the crap out of it. Of get an Air hammer. Its wat ima do on my friends '79

 

i had this problem..i just replaced the whole steering system n took the tie rod outters off from the spindle but those were stuck also so either way i was screwed..what i did was use a hammer and fork n make it so its nice and tight then grab the SLEDGE HAMMER and wack it the crap out!!!!! and if that doesnt work use acetylene and heat it up alot and then use the fork and wack it.. itll work.

 

I live in the boonies, so im gonna ask the only local mechanic if i could borrow a fork (if he has it). Otherwise i have to wait a day or so to make a 2 hour, round trip, drive to autozone.

 

got the center drag link off. have the new one on, EXCEPT the passenger inner tie rod end. When i go to tighten the castle nut, the bolt spins with it. i did bust up the little boot full of grease, not sure if that matters. autozone doesnt seem to carry inner tie rod ends. any ideas?

 

I think you need an impact wrench for this one. I'm having the same issue with my lower driver side ball joint.

 

GOT IT!!!! Thanks for the help.

 

For next time, Get some PB blaster ( penetrating oil) helps a lot. Glad you got it off. When I did my powersteering changeover and used a few bad choice of words in the process

 

if there is a next time ill try ANYTHING to make it easier. thanks for the advice