schwank

Trying to finish up the race car and get it on the trailer. When I try to install new locknuts on my new factory late manual tie rods, as soon as the nut hits the resistance of the 'lock', the tie rod end starts to spin with the nut.

Is it a case of 'use special tool 9xxx' or just need to use air tools or what? I read the shop manual steering section and it doesn't mention any technique, just reassemble to 50 ft-lbs torque.

Spidey944

I am pretty sure that the inner tie rod has a flat spot on it that fits a 13mm wrench. maybe a 12mm. That will stop the spinning.

931guru

Common problem... Use some upward pressure (i.e. Use a floor jack to put some, but not too much, pressure) on the other part of the balljoint while using an impact wrench to tighten the nut.

Spidey944

Oh yeah, if you are talking about the nut attacting the tie rod to the spindle, ^^^ is correct. I prob. misread you.

schwank

Funny.... I had tried that but must not have put enough pressure on them. It took the entire weight of the front corner to make them stop spinning in place.

Thanks for the tip... they are already complete. One less thing on the list...

Jfrahm

Just did this on my Saab, I had to superglue the pin to the arm to get it to hold well enough for me to torque the locknut on. I just put a drop of superglue in there and pressed it together, did something else for an hour and then torqued it up. It'll still pop out easily with a puller, I'm sure.

-Joel