today i tried to change the drive shaft gaiters on my cinq. following the haines manual i used a ball joint seperator to split the joint leaving the nut on the end to protect the threads. but now the fall joint is free i cant undo the nut or tighten it back up, i think the threads might be abit shagged. ive tried popping the joint back into place with g-clamps and everything. has anyone got an ideas or am i going to have to cut the threads and fork our for a new track rod end?

picture if it helps

not quite sure what uve tried to do there. easiest way to remove the track rods is to unbolt the bolt at the bottom first and then just knock it up with a hammer etc. that way the ball joint stays intact and can easily be bolted back on

Just replace it. They're really cheap (getting the tracking done costs more).

Not sure that you need to remove the TREs to get to the gaitor, though.

so i could tilt the hub and get the end of the driveshaft out and slide the new gaiter on.

goneleft said:

so i could tilt the hub and get the end of the driveshaft out and slide the new gaiter on.

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Yeah, I think so. Of course, you need to disconnect the strut bolts first, but I think it'll work.

fingers99 said:

Yeah, I think so. Of course, you need to disconnect the strut bolts first, but I think it'll work.

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Depends on which gaiter youre doing...

Inner can be done by removing the hub to strut bolts, and pivoting the assembly around the lower balljoint, but outer requires hub nut off in addition to that.

Neither require the LBJ being undone. Id only do that if I was doing a wishbone as its a farcical affair.

As for your problem...Id try an impact based method - try using an air gun if available, else simultaneously hit the TRE down with a hammer and tightening the nut.

Failing that...get a damn long bar (1m at least Id say)...wedge that so you lean on it (or even sit on it) and tighten the nut. Not the safest of methods, in fact not safe at all! (you may lift the NS off the floor it youre heavy enough or have a long enough bar), but its never failed IME.

yeah its the inboard one and i was going to pivot the hub around with the nuts out so the drive shaft comes out at the gear box end. I jsut thought that the TRE would need to come off as it says so in the haines....me and my blind loyalty.

If you get a chance, write up a guide. Of course, the other area where Haynes gets it completely wrong is replacing the front struts.

goneleft said:

yeah its the inboard one and i was going to pivot the hub around with the nuts out so the drive shaft comes out at the gear box end. I jsut thought that the TRE would need to come off as it says so in the haines....me and my blind loyalty.

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I think that the shaft should pull clear with the TRE in...not totally sure though

The TRE can stay attachec but iirc you need to have the steering straight ahead or you can't get enough articulation to release the drive shaft.

Normally I would remove the top strut clamp bolt, loosen the bottom one and that gives enough clearance to get the shaft out.

To solve your current problem, the big bar method is the prefered one for me.

Cheers

D

Hi Guys.

I've got the car up in the air and face the ball joint nut spinning problem. Will the 'wedge a pole' technique allow me to tighten it back up again?

If so where do you wedge the 1metre pole? I assume onto the top of the ball joint.

Cheers,

Ben

mrbenno said:

Hi Guys.

I've got the car up in the air and face the ball joint nut spinning problem. Will the 'wedge a pole' technique allow me to tighten it back up again?

If so where do you wedge the 1metre pole? I assume onto the top of the ball joint.

Cheers,

Ben

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You need to force the ball joint against upright to get the taper seated as tight as possible.

Cheers

SPD

rallycinq said:

You need to force the ball joint against upright to get the taper seated as tight as possible.

Cheers

SPD

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I don't understand what does 'against upright' mean.
Thanks

Ben

If the threads are fubared no chance. Try cleaning them up till the bolt goes on easily. Often you can then either wedge it or put the weight of the car on it and it'll do the trick.

mrbenno said:

I don't understand what does 'against upright' mean.
Thanks

Ben

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The track rod end fits into the 'upright'. Force the track rod end further into the hole in the upright so that the taper is forcrd in. This should stop the taper turning as you undo/do up the nut.

Cheers

SPD

The upright is the bit which holds the wheel bearing. At the bottom is the ball joint, at the top the two bolts which hold the strut in place.

The thread seemed fine when I loosened the nut a little before using the separator. When I tried to remove the nut completely was when I realised that threaded part was rotating with the nut.

IS it most likely that nothing is damaged and it's simply because of the taper?

Thanks you two. Do you ever leave your computers?

They will corrode up enough for that to happen. Next time, lots of plus gas and a good go over with a wire brush beforehand.