nineeagles

I read somewhere that I need a 31mm open end slimline wrench to undo the inner side of the tie rod....anyone know who sells them....I only have places like Autozone and the local chevy/ford vendors locally....

RedlineMan

Hey;

Sears will have the right size, and I thought they were 32mm? I always take the shoulder of the rod end down with a cutoff and widen the wrench flats so a normal width wrench will fit. Always make things easier if the opportunity presents itself.

Granite 944

I just replaced the tie rod ends on my '83 last week. Manual steering rack. I used a 1", 1/2" drive crows foot. I had a couple extra crows foot tools, and ground one to fit the locknut on the rack. You'll need one of these to torque it back on with properly anyway. The metric size was 27mm IIRC (I'll check again when I get back home). I just used a pair of slip joint pliers ( channel locks) to hold the tie rod end itself, loosened the locknut, and then the rod end comes off the rack real easy. That end might be 32mm, but I'm not sure of that till I measure the old tie rods I took off. Maybe someone else can verify? I'm not sure if the power rack is a different size than the manual either.

Carl Nall

IIRC, I think I used a 32mm thin bicycle headset wrench.

Granite 944

Finally got a chance to look at my tie rod parts again. Yep, it is 27mm for locknut, and 32mm for thin slot cutout on tie rods.

nineeagles

OOPS....I was wrong....not 31 but 32 or 1 1/4" fits perfect....I had to buy one but it is way too long....I changed one tonight and the only problem I had was the wrench being too long so tomorrow I am going to cut it in half and I'll have a open end and a box.....then I'll change to other one tomorrow night after work....then off to the alignment shop......