When I took my front end apart, I just used a normal hammer and pounde from
the bottom up and the tie rods came out of the knuckle after 4 or 5 whacks.
When doing the reinstall I just used the torque from putting the nut on to
pull the tie rod end back down throught the hole.

Sean B.
'90 V'gon, "Happy Bus", pseudo Wolfy
Torrance, CA
Join the TiiCo registry at
HTTP://www.vgonman.com

                    sg
                    <sg@SUNSETWINONA.        To:     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
                    COM>                     cc:
                    Sent by: Vanagon         Subject:     Re: P/S Rack
                    Mailing List
                    <vanagon@gerry.va
                    nagon.com>

                    11/19/2001 13:13
                    Please respond to
                    sg

hmm.  i was hoping to do it without ruining those seals, but maybe that is
not possible?  i went to a junkyard to practice removing the tie rod ends
from the knuckle yesterday, and i did it twice and both time i ruined the
seals.  i had a similar tool, i think, to your pickle fork.  this morning,
however, i had a thought.  maybe if i got a rubber mallet, i could bang on
the end of the bolt securing the tie rod ends to the knuckle from the
underside, thus staying away from the seal, and not damaging it.  or maybe
a
combination of this and some pickle fork action?
-steve/buster
----- Original Message -----
From: "jimmary" <jimmary@softcom.net>
To: <sg@SUNSETWINONA.COM>
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 1:13 PM
Subject: P/S Rack

> Steve and Buster
> I did a rack change on my '86 last spring and I had to remove the cotter
> pins and nut from the tie rod ends and then drive the tie rod ends out
> of the steering knuckle using a "pickle fork" (available at any FLAPS) I
> ruined the rubber seals doing this so I installed new tie rod ends on
> the new rack.
> When you remove the tie rod ends it would save alot of work by counting
> the number of turns required to remove the ends -thatway when you go to
> install new ends you know how far to thread it on the tie rod shaft and
> avoid a major steering alignment problem.
> Hope this Helps
> Jim
>