Replacing tie rod ends and LCA bushings... HOW?

[xtreme17]

Hey everyone.

So, I need to replace my front outer tie rod ends, and the left / right control arm bushings on both drivers and passengers side.
I have all the parts (4 bushings, and 2 tie rod ends) ordered.
So... can ya guys give me the quick rundown of how to do this job?
Also, will I need any special tools?

Thanks.
-Shawn.

[xtreme17]

Ummm, anyone???
I get the parts in 6 hours, and my alignment is in 12 hours... so I'd like to know how to do this.
Or else I'll have to pay my mechanic $200 to do it.

Thanks
PS: Karma to go around.

[chief tool]

Control arm bushings....I did these with a large G-clamp and some strategically sized sockets.....I still found it to be a swear fest.

a little bit of sink detergent helped them slide in, but I removed rubber ones to replace with polyurethane....gettting the old ones out is where the swearing is at.

Tie rods....easy...most people say you need a special tool..theyre not expensive though...but you can do it without. I am a big fan of the "two hammers" technique, where you you use a very large heavy hammer (12lbs) as an anvil on one side of the knuckle arm, strike the edge of the other side with a smaller (5lb) hammer.....after youve taken out the split pin and loosened the nut of course. The theory is that blows of the hammer squish the metal a bit and pop the tapered part out..in practice it works well, so long as you dont miss and hit vital parts of the steering.

The two hammers technique is not for everyone tho, you need to be accurate! considering the special tool probably is less than $40..get that unless your desperate and good with hammers.

Even after you change the tie rods, unless you are really lucky you will need to do a wheel alignment..you can do this at home tho.

The way I do it uses two long pieces on steel u-channel (at least 6ft lengths) then you need 4 bricks..at least axle height.
You place one near the mudflap on each side, then one about 6 ft in front of the car.
You then lay the steel u-channel on the bricks so that the side rests on the tyre in two spots, then you use tape measure...you measure the distance between the steel channels at the 3ft and 6ft marks, the work out the toe in angle....in reality I adjust so that its about 3mm less at the 6ft over the 3ft...which works for me.
You need to roll the car back and forth after making changes, or it wont be accurate..in fact you need to make sure the car was going forwards not backwards before you stopped to take measurements or if there is any slack at all in the steering as suspension you'll get the wrong answer.

All sound too complicated ? the shop doesnt charge that much to do this

Why would I try to do it myself? I dont trust the shop to get it right....
I've done this for years tho and it works well....

[Evert]

Did you get it done?
I've heard people burning the old bushings away. To get the tie rod end out, I've used a couple of bricks and car jack. I jacked the car up, removed pin and nut, put some bricks under that bolt and then lowered the car. Weight of the car just pushed that tie rod out.

[xtreme17]

I successfully installed the tie rod ends.
Very easy job.
I used a "pickle fork" to pop out the end. (this is the specialized tool used for this job).
I also aligned my own wheels. The alignment is bang on.
However, I didn't think my control arm bushings were bad, so I returned the new ones.
Turns out the passenger side control arm can be wiggled a little bit.
But, I guess the parts store gave me the wrong bushings anyways.
They gave me 2-rear passenger side bushings and 2-rear drivers side bushings.
I don't think they can get the bushings for the front of the control arm... I'll do some more poking around.
If I can't find any, I think I'll just have to purchase a new control arm.
Karma distributed.

Thanks.
-Shawn.