New Guy - Tie Rod Installation

[Lembomw]

First of all, I can’t believe the wealth of information that is available from the members of this site and the willingness to share it with us new guys. While I have 3 of Les Andrew’s repair manuals which cover very well how to work on different areas of the car, it is the actual experience that fills in the gaps that is invaluable in order to do things quickly and correctly.

I have been rebuilding the suspension, brakes and electrical so that I can get my recently purchased 30 Tudor on the road to drive. Total restoration will happen in a year or so, or sooner if the engine turns out to be no good.

Today I am going to adjust the steering, thanks to Pat and Greg’s filling me in on a few things yesterday. I am also going to install the drag link and tie rod. I played with the tie rod a little yesterday and can’t figure out how to get the tie rod end over the steering arm balls (balls are new, tie rod and drag link springs and ball cups, etc are new). From the pictures it appears that the tie rods are installed with the grease fitting pointing toward the back of the car.

Does anyone have an easy way to get the tie rod end over the steering arm balls when the spring and ball cups are already in the tie rod end. Yesterday I tried to get one on and am unable to get the spring and ball seat to move back enough to get the ball into the rod end. There must be an easy way to do this. I just do not know it………yet.

Your input will be greatly appreciated. Mark

[V4F]

i take all out the end except the inside cup . then assemble after it is on the ball . i also use the nylon cup kit (00065-2 TEFLON TIE ROD DRAG LINK SET 28-34) from vintage ford in sacramento . once assembled , tighten & cotter key .......... steve

[banjobrad]

I know what your problem is, it's getting it squeezed onto the ball after
you've inserted the spring and cup. I used a rivet and the threaded cap to
compress the spring just a little until I had the ball started, pulled it apart
and then smacked the tie rod with a rubber hammer. Sounds a little primitive
but it worked. The new stuff is hard to crunch down.

[Pilotdave]

Yep - ran into the same challenge when I replaced all the balls, cups, etc. It's not a finesse job - you gotta put muscle into it! Greasing the cups helped, too.

[Robert]

Grease on the springs and cups acts as glue to hold everything together prior to "bumping" tie rod ends onto the balls with a rubber hammer.

[Lembomw]

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Thank you guys. I greased everything set the tie rod end over the ball and bumped it in with a short piece of 4 x 4 (I could not find my rubber hammer. Thanks again for the help. Mark