Author Topic: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?  (Read 1892 times)

Offline xcore

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SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« on: 02 March 2009, 00:18 »
alright guys, got a small amount of play in my front offside wheels, its only from side to side and not up and down so that rules out bearing?
havnt had time to look around the bolts but will do first light tomorow!

im thinking its the track rod, are they easy to replace? i assume its pop it off the stub axel, slacken off the locknut , mark where it is and unscrew?

how much of a bastard is the locknut? got a balljoint seperator for the balljoint

cheers for anyhelp, life savers!

Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« Reply #1 on: 02 March 2009, 08:57 »
There's no stub axle on the front.

Its seriously easy to remove - but the odds on you getting the tracking right, even if you mark it up are slim.

Side to side play is just as likely to be a wheel bearing, as it is ball joint as it could be steering arms. I take it you don't have any noise turning hard left/right - that would rule out wheel bearing. To rule out balljoint, jack it high, get a mate to wiggle the wheel and look at the balljoint for movement with an inspection torch. I've seen the 3 nuts work loose on a ball joint in the past, so worth a check.

If it is the TRE, you should be able to tell by getting full lock on the side you think it is, grab it with your hand and have a mate slightly wiggle the steering and see if you feel a click.

To remove the TRE, jack it up, take the wheel off, mark the TRE threads, slacken off the TR locking nut (hold the flats on the TR to stop it spinning (17mm IIRC)), Undo the TRE nut, if you find the TRE spinning when you try to undo it, either use a buzzgun or (if you're replacing it anyway), give it a couple of taps on the head to seat it tight in the wheel bearing housing, then try again - always works for me. To remove the TRE ball joint from the hub is easy, don't hit the threads upwards, but hit the wheel bearing housing itself. If you give it a few swift wacks on the outside of where the balljoint goes through, it will pop the balljoint free ;)



Hit where its marked X :D

Offline rubjonny

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Re: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« Reply #2 on: 02 March 2009, 09:07 »
just to add to the above, if you have manual steering only the driver side end is adjustible/removable, passenger side is fixed. Unless someone has replaced it in the past that is.  On PAS both ends come off, but the passenger side must be set to a specific length, and the length specified in the haynes is wrong:


Oh and if you're carefull when you mark up the track rod end you should be able to get it spot on, I did as I had it checked after ;)
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Offline xcore

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Re: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« Reply #3 on: 02 March 2009, 10:25 »
cheers guys yea its the front drivers so its the adjustable one, just a quick qu if it was the bottom balljoint surely there would be movement when i push the top of the disk towards the car and pull the bottom back? as the 3 nuts are sloted that way? same for wheelbearing play? plus there are no noises either. is the locknut usually a b!tch to get off? would i need to pick up a blowtorch or similar?

cheers

Offline rubjonny

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Re: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« Reply #4 on: 02 March 2009, 10:35 »
locknut is usually ok, but the track rod can be a pain to remove!  I got one of these from my local motorfactors, did the job nicely


If it was me I'd do the ball joints both sides as well as the track rod end, just as its all coming off anyway. I'd do passenger rod end if it was removable type, if not leave it more trouble than its worth!  Oh check out the rack gaitors as well, if the end is coming off its a good time to replace a split gaitor.
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Offline xcore

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Re: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« Reply #5 on: 02 March 2009, 11:26 »
surely i can just swivel the hub out of the way and twist the adjustable end off and replace?

iv got a splitter no worries about that

Offline rubjonny

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Re: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« Reply #6 on: 02 March 2009, 12:29 »
yes, i meant removing the track rod from the hub can be a pain :)
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Offline Ben Lessani

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Re: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« Reply #7 on: 02 March 2009, 14:12 »
yes, i meant removing the track rod from the hub can be a pain :)

That's what I used to think, I own a ball joint splitter, but I don't bother using it on the TRE - hitting the wheel bearing housing where I said about 3 times will free it up completely.

Offline rubjonny

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Re: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« Reply #8 on: 02 March 2009, 15:17 »
been there, done that on my gti. wasnt happening. it actually snapped my other bearing splitter in half  :grin:
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Offline xcore

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Re: SO YEA MORE ISSUES...STEERING track rod arm?
« Reply #9 on: 02 March 2009, 18:07 »
cheers guys, neh radweld didnt hold up for longon the water pipe so cars off the road for now!