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So I attempted to have my 170K 940 wagon aligned and the shop reported (accurately) that hey could not break the tie rods loose. What they did not get right was the rack type but luckily I was skeptical and decide to do all but the alignment myself.
Multiple learning opportunities for me on this:
Do the research on your data plate and under the car (in my case, the label was clear after one finger swipe of the grit on the rack)
Do not let the local Volvo Dealer "decode" your VIN (common practice for smaller shops) for the type of rack you have...the VIN does NOT tell you the rack especially on the 3-4 years the 940 had the Koyo rack as an option.
I broke my vice trying to break the tie rod ends free...granted it was only a 4" vice but seriously!
If you have find a place that will take your Koyo core in exchange for the more common CAM/TRW or ZF rack seriously do the math on swapping...here is the conundrum:
Rebuilt Koyo rack from Jorgen is only $20 more that two inner tie-rods for a Koyo at $156 (plus the $36 round trip shipping, $150 core). Outer tie rod ends are about $50 each shipped and you have to search for someone that stocks them. This is all assuming you are requiring OEM quality...the aftermarket for the Koyo stuff screams URO quality and there is not much of it.
Assuming a CAM/TRW rack is the same price, you can buy the mounting hardware, outer ends and the one hose that does not match up for about the same money. Also, everything is likely in stock, the aftermarket supplies OES parts at about a 1/3 of the Koyo prices if you have to do it again.
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Could you use a press or puller to separate the outer tie rods from the Pitman arms?
I'd used a lever method using a breaker bar with the end under the A-arm and over the steering rack link close to the outer tie rod. Use a three-pound hammer evenly on the outside flat surface of the Pitman arm.
You broke your vice? A real vice or a Harbor Freight vice?
Had not failed me with the rustiest of Volvo like in Salty Winters Midwest Archy City with the Whit Castles, Cardinals, and John. D. McGurks at 12th and Russell in Soulard.
cheers,
MacDuffy's Tavern.
--
Near Canada. Or better is Norway.
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The vice was a vintage machinist vice with a 4" width and the casting that broke was a 1/4" thick 2" x 4" C-channel of cast iron. I will still say it was the wrong tool for the job but it is the only vice have (had). You can place an incredible amount of force with a 24" vintage Rigid pipe wrench. I have crushed 4" cast iron heating pipe with it without it breaking loose.
Out of curiosity, is Pitman arm and accurate name when referring to rack and pinion steering and single control arm.
Edit: Just to be clear, I successfully removed everything from the car, I just needed to remove the outer ends to fit the core back in the box without issue. They cannot be separated without heat and a bigger vice.
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Uncle Onkel Udo II,
Indeed, may be more properly called an idler arm?
If an aftermarket outer tie rod, I'd found the metal soft, if tough (versus hard or brittle) and somewhat compliant where the conical sleeve and the concial recess in the idler arm interface.
So, with excess torque, and some years, and some rust, i can imagine you are or have had a heck of a time.
A pickle fork so long as you don't mind destroying teh rubber grease boot could work, or did you try that already?
Heat and percussion persuasion, then, to drive the tie rod out of the idler arm?
Hope it works for you.
cheers,
Cold Pizza Morning.
--
LOL Cats say, "teh."
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Dear Onkel Udo II,
Hope you're well. I'd not discuss vices - my own, or someone else's - on a public forum. I am, however, more than happy to discuss vises.
As to breaking-loose corroded items, sometimes repeated saturation with a penetrating oil (PB Blaster, Kroil, etc.) will suffice. Other times, as you note, strong heating is required.
Hope this helps.
Yours faithfully,
Spook
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I was hoping someone...anyone...would catch that. Thanks for the chuckle.
Yeah, I had already doen the magic elixir wire brush to good metal, heat (propane torch only), douse in penetrating oil, tap liberally as it cools with a ball peen hammer. Rinse, repeat for 3 seperate .
This may be the first time I admit defeat. The ends may have been unmoved since new and spent 1995 through 2012 in the Milwaukee suburbs. It may be that even if I can get it to move (bigger vice, Oxy/Acy torch and my 24" pipe wrench with a cheater) I would be a case of good Belgian beer the tie-rod would give way first on one or both.
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Dear Onkel Udo II,
Hope you're well. Why not use a thin cutting wheel to split the tie rod end and the lock nut? Two cuts - parallel with the tie rod's axis but not down to the tie rod itself - might then be finished by use of a cold chisel. Splitting the tie rod end might allow the tie rod end to be turned.
Plainly, there's some risk that corrosion has ruined the threads at the end of the tie rod. If, however, those threads are in good order, then new tie rod ends could be installed.
Hope this helps.
Yours faithfully,
Spook
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Excellent...can't believe I did not think of that. I do this stuff all the time for but but did not think of the tie-rod end as just a funny nut!
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...if you can send them your Koyo (core) like it is, and ask if they can get the TR ends off and send them back to you with our new rack.
They can be very accommodating, once sending me a Koyo rack under mild protest for a '92 940. I was dead sure that's what I needed, only to discover (under gobs of crud) that I had a ZF with CAM-type (small end) bellows.
I did get the Koyo installed in the ZF's place, but it wasn't easy
--
Bruce Young, '93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.
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I guess I was not clear..don't need the ends back. Got new from a online Volvo dealer. I can't fit the rack in the "core" box with them on.
Yes, Jorgen is awesome to deal with. I did call them. They told me to cut the ends off with a grinder after the female threaded portion of the tie-rod end. Problem solved.
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Dear Onkel Udo II,
Hope you're well. Glad to have helped. Cut-off wheels, especially if only 1/16" thick - when mounted on an angle-grinder - remove metal quickly.
I presume the rack is on the work bench. That should allow you precisely to control depth-of-cut.
To ease removal, make two longitudinal cuts at 90⁰ to each other. Once that strip of steel - one-quarter of the circumference - has been separated from the rest of tie rod end's body, a couple of taps with a hammer should break the corrosion bond.
To do a cat-back exhaust replacement, I remove the clamp to the rear of the catalytic converter. Using a Dremel Moto-tool and a cut-off wheel, I make two, two-inch-long longitudinal cuts in the outer (exhaust) pipe. These two longitudinal cuts are separated by 90⁰ of arc.
I do not cut all the way through the outer (exhaust) pipe to the inner pipe (which comes out of the catalytic converter). Rather, after I've "scored" the outer (exhaust) pipe deeply, I insert a small, flat-bade screwdriver, and lift the strip of metal, and peel it upwards. As this strip of metal - between the two cuts - is lifted, the outer pipe separates from the inner pipe. This takes about 15 minutes to do.
Hope this helps.
Yours faithfully,
Spook
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Done in yet again by the Rust Belt. I wish manufacturers would assemble with antiseize on these components and save owners a ton of grief.
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Dear Steve,
Hope you're well. To apply anti-seize to underbody fasteners might add $.05 to the price of a car. Such an outlay would be wasted: few own vehicles long enough for corrosion to be a problem, and even fewer fix their own vehicles. Even if anti-seize were offered as an "option", few would bother.
Hope this helps.
Yours faithfully,
Spook
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