Tie-rod problems. damaged... by an alignment shop????

[Crazy K]

yes.. I'm having tie-rod problems on the 95. they WEREN'T bad when I started... but 4 hours of beating on them with a 10 pound sledge fixed that... and my ability to grip anything. My hands HURT.

 

 

I had taken apart the inner and outer tie-rods last October and completely pulled the front suspension off that car and inspected everything I could, at which time I determined the frame was tweeked beyond repair. so.. I put it all back together and had the alignment re-checked by the shop where my brother had the tires (and hence included alignment checks.

 

Fast forward to today. I have a frame and a transmission ready to install... and i find... that the inner and outer tie-rods are now seized!!! no... not a speck of rust anywhere. I had lubricated the threads so that they would not be siezed but the threads were completely dry???!???!?????!?????

 

Yes... I can see what the alignment shop did.... they torched the tie-rods to clean em and in the process actually quenched and shrank the outer tie-rods smaller than the inner tierods. They are not frozen by rust, but by shrinkage! torch got one side off... but the other is stuck firm.

 

WTF????? WHY????? they ruined all 4 tie-rods and I will now have to replace the rack, too!!!!

 

thoughts on this?????

 

 

 

the alignment shop actually is a NTB in Lakewood, Ohio...

 

 

[1990lumina]

Inner tie rods don't come off the rack?? Sounds like a shit pile Aveo design.

 

I've never heard of torching the tieords and having them shrink to the point of seizing up. Although if something like that did happen I bet the threads weren't in all that great of shape before even with the grease.

 

Sucks but sounds like you need some new parts.

[White93z34]

I think you are making this out to be a far bigger deal then it is, I highly doubt the shop heating them up "seized" them, as heating them up is a common practice used by about every alignment shop out there.

[Crazy K]

I think you are making this out to be a far bigger deal then it is, I highly doubt the shop heating them up "seized" them, as heating them up is a common practice used by about every alignment shop out there.

Heating them up is "normal", but they must of used a hell-fire on these. remember, I had completely removed them and installed them with lubricant so they could be taken apart in the near future. the cotter-pin were untouched, they were exactly as i had folded them.... but the tierods have skrunken now, PB Blaster won;t even ease them turning....

[slick]

A torch does not have the capabilities to get it hot enough, or heat soaked long enough, for it to "quench shrink". And, how the hell do the quench it? Rapid air cooling? Water/oil bath? You would be able to see to the naked eye that they have actually been quenched. And if they were, the thread would have to be re-tapped, as with the deformation that occurs during quenching, there is no way in hell they would have gotten a tie-rod end back on. And, why the hell would they completely take a tie-rod end off for?

 

 

Soo... heating it up to break them loose, yep. "Quenching" them, very very very hard to believe.

 

Most likely, the anti-seize dried up from the "oh so bad Cleveland winters" and the "tons of salt that they use", and now it's rusted dry. That, I don't find hard to believe.

[Crazy K]

they were heat quenched in position... ergo... they are bound up.

[White93z34]

did you unsieze the jerknut when you were rubbing grease all over the car?

[Crazy K]

did you unsieze the jerknut when you were rubbing grease all over the car?

 

then were bound too. so I'd say no?

[White93z34]

so what you are saying is when you had the car all torn apart to rub grease all over it you did not loosen the jerk nut for the tie rod end?

[Crazy K]

so what you are saying is when you had the car all torn apart to rub grease all over it you did not loosen the jerk nut for the tie rod end?

I completely seperated it at that time. the struts were completely removed and laid out on the ground...

[White93z34]

i'm talking the jerk nut that effectively locks the tie rod end in position.

[Crazy K]

i'm talking the jerk nut that effectively locks the tie rod end in position.

 

I would have spun it up the shaft, but not removed.

[94GPGTP]

Use large pipe wrenches. They will get it just about every time.

[White93z34]

I am still trying to figure out why you would disassemble the car in that manner rather then just pulling the tie rod end off the knuckle.

[slick]

I am still trying to figure out why you would disassemble the car in that manner rather then just pulling the tie rod end off the knuckle.

 

I'm rather confused too....

[Brian P]

We need a certified metallurgist to get in here and shut this thread right down.

[AWeb80]

I'm close to one. i was top in my theory class. ken, unless they torched them to complete red hot all the way through and them immediately quenched them in water, cast steel (That's the key here) like those are made out of will not shrink enough to get it that tight. heat it up with an accetalyne (sp?) torch and they'll break loose. a propane torch ain't going to do squat.

[AWeb80]

Or some muscle would work too.

[GOT2B GM]

I'm no metallurgust, but I'm a millwright. The torch burnt the lubricant out of the threads, salt enters threads, rust.

 

I bet if you reheated the nuts again with an oxy-acetylene torch to crack the rust free they would come loose.

 

/thread

 

 

 

[xtremerevolution]

propane ftl. when we say torch we mean business, not coleman campfire. you need oxy to do it properly. keep the propane for the baked beans.

[slick]

I'm close to one. i was top in my theory class. ken, unless they torched them to complete red hot all the way through and them immediately quenched them in water, cast steel (That's the key here) like those are made out of will not shrink enough to get it that tight. heat it up with an accetalyne (sp?) torch and they'll break loose. a propane torch ain't going to do squat.

I'm no metallurgust, but I'm a millwright. The torch burnt the lubricant out of the threads, salt enters threads, rust.

 

I bet if you reheated the nuts again with an oxy-acetylene torch to crack the rust free they would come loose.

 

/thread

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's what I tried telling him in my post on the first page!!!

 

But, I guess the fact that I work in the Heat Treat industry makes no difference here!

[cutty]

I have done many alignments using torch's at the shop i work at and have never had to get any tie rod ends that hot. Only enough to get the metal to expand a bit and for it to burn the rust and corrison out of them. A few minutes top on each tie rod end.

[Venom]

I have done many alignments using torch's at the shop i work at and have never had to get any tie rod ends that hot. Only enough to get the metal to expand a bit and for it to burn the rust and corrison out of them. A few minutes top on each tie rod end.

 

Quoted for truth, same thing I do at the shop as well.

[Crazy K]

the tie rod was removed using a 24 inch pipe wrench with the inner tie-rod locked in a vice... and an acetylene torch. it was glowing bright red and all my weight hanging on the 24 inch wrench for it to even start creaking.... FUN!

 

 

now... how about a home torch? do they make small portable ones like the propane one????

[xtremerevolution]

the tie rod was removed using a 24 inch pipe wrench with the inner tie-rod locked in a vice... and an acetylene torch. it was glowing bright red and all my weight hanging on the 24 inch wrench for it to even start creaking.... FUN!

 

 

now... how about a home torch? do they make small portable ones like the propane one????

 

Yep. Home depot.