tie rod end help for an aspire

[ckiesman]

I know this is a festiva forum, but it would also apply to anyone doing an aspire swap.

I recently went to change the tie rod ends out on our 1997 aspire. The old ones came off the knuckle with some, um, gentle persuasion, and a BFH.

now, when it comes time to re-assemble....

there is no damage to the knuckle what so ever. however, when i went to tighten the castle nut on the tie rod, the shaft spun. I think it was somewhere around 40 ft/lbs my haynes book told me to tighten it to. well, at 40 the shaft spins. Then after looking, i realized that the hole for the cotter pin wouldn't line up. not even close. So, in order to get the cottor pin in, the tapered end isnt seated properly in the knuckle. But, in order to get it seated correctly, it would need to be tightened more, which isnt happening.


sorry for the long post, but i hope it kinda explains my situation. The car feels alot better on the road, and the alignment is wayyy better than it was. But i still worry about that end. when you pull the wheel itself side to side, it has play.

I went with world suspension when i bought this. It measures the same as the original one, so idk, lol. either way, i wasnt going to shell out 62.99 for a tie rod end at my local napa, lol

[Festy46]

Try putting a hydraulic bottle jack under the base of the tie rod, apply pressure, and then tighen the nut.

[Nerd Racing]

Or take a rubber mallet and smack the tie rod end down into place.

If it has a grease fitting avoid hitting that.

[ckiesman]

putting the tie rod into the spindle isnt the problem. Its when i got to put the cotter pin in, the hole doesnt line up. I would almost have to drill a new hole up farther from the base of the tie rod

[lessersivad]

there is no damage to the knuckle what so ever. however, when i went to tighten the castle nut on the tie rod, the shaft spun. I think it was somewhere around 40 ft/lbs my haynes book told me to tighten it to. well, at 40 the shaft spins. Then after looking, i realized that the hole for the cotter pin wouldn't line up. not even close. So, in order to get the cottor pin in, the tapered end isnt seated properly in the knuckle. But, in order to get it seated correctly, it would need to be tightened more, which isnt happening.


sorry for the long post, but i hope it kinda explains my situation. The car feels alot better on the road, and the alignment is wayyy better than it was. But i still worry about that end. when you pull the wheel itself side to side, it has play.

If the shaft spins it's not seated. Therefore you will have to seat the end properly to get the shaft to stop spinning.

If the shaft is seated correctly, THEN the cotter pin should line up being the shaft is seated further into the knuckle.

Hope this makes sense.

[Festy46]

putting the tie rod into the spindle isnt the problem. Its when i got to put the cotter pin in, the hole doesnt line up. I would almost have to drill a new hole up farther from the base of the tie rod

Did you put it on with the nut going on the bottom side of the knuckle. It sounds like you are trying to put the tie rod end up through the bottom of the hole. It goes down through from the top. Putting it in the wrong way would give you the 2 problems you're having (shaft spinning and thinking you would have to drill a hole higher up on the shaft).

[GenevaDirt]

possibly got the wrong tie rod....maybe Festy....the taper is different on the 2. Isn't the escort one that everyone uses for the swap....being that it is way cheaper?

[Safety Guy]

Yeah, you should be able to use the cheaper Escort tie rod ends.

I'm also wondering what is going on here. Maybe some pics are in order!

Karl

[ckiesman]

I didnt put it on upside down, i do know that, lol.

Since its cold, dark, and cold, i dont feel like going outside to take a pic. plus, the way i have it on there now, you cant see the problem because i have the nut loose so the cotter pin will fit.

but here is a pic of my problem i drew up:



Now what gets me, i compared the lengths before installation, and they seemed to be the same. Could i just drill a new hole for the cotter pin? Or would that weaken it to much?

[Safety Guy]

It seems to me that you have the wrong, or wrongly manufactured, tie rod ends. If in fact they will not tighten any more, then they are not a proper fit to your knuckles.

Since you have a Festiva too, are you sure you have Aspire tie rod ends?

And when you "measured it" against the old one, did you check for how far up the threading went on the tie rod end stub? You may find the threading was not extensive enough.

Just a guess.

Karl

[Festy46]

When you said you would need to "drill a new hole up farther from the base of the tie rod", I thought the nut was not going down on the threads far enough. From your drawing, it looks like the nut goes too far down. I've had one or two like this. The problem is the hole in the knuckle is worn because somewhere in the car's lifetime the tie rod end was loose in the hole and made the hole slightly bigger. Try putting one or two flat washers on that are big enough to fit over the tie rod bolt and then tighten it. Unless the hole is terribly worn, this should fix it. This was what I did and I had no problems. If you still can't get yours tight, you will probably have to replace the knuckle, but before you do make absolutely sure you do have the correct tie rod end.

[ckiesman]

I bought these off of world suspension on ebay. The box actually said fits 94-97 aspire on it. So unless the wrong item gut placed in the box (which does happen) then I have the right parts.

here is a picture i took of the other end, and the one i took off. I had to cut the nut off, so it might not be lined up properly. But from what i can see, its verry close to the old one.



I might also end up doing what you ^^^ suggested. A friend of mine had to do that on an old s10 he had. Some of the hardened flat steel washers worked like a charm. The knuckle looks fine, but something could be bummed up in there.


Thanks for all the help to guys. I really appreciate it. Its our only car to get my wife and i and out 10 month old son around. And something like a tie rod id really hate to mess up. Thanks again.