tie rod boots

[kbota]

When I bought my L3010, one of the tie rod end dust seals was torn, and I was trying to figure out how to deal with it. One weekend, I managed to bend that same tie rod on a pine stump hidden in vines. Figured the tie rod would have to come off to have hope of straightening it, so with my Son's help, we removed it, and straightened it, and re-installed. Son did 99% of the work. In the process, the tie rod removal fork damaged the other dust seal.

I decided I would attempt to replace the dust seals, so ordered two along with the retaining clips. Sorta been dreading the project, but finally decided to either fix it or plan on replacing the entire tie rod. Pulled the tie rod back off and removed the remaining pieces of dust seal. After getting the tie rod in the vice and looking things over, it was a snap to replace the dust seals.

Okay, it is difficult to grease them prior to install, and impossible after you install. Found a "grease needle" at NAPA, and bought one. It snaps on the grease gun, and you simply inject the dust seal with the needle, and pump it up. It will self relieve if you pump to much grease in, and the grease then "relieves" back out the needle puncture will harden and seal the tiny opening. The needle I bought is probably .5mm. About the size of a pentel mechanical pencil lead. Be sure to use a lightweight grease.

The grease needles are cheap (2 for $5)
Everyone might think about using these to put grease in the dust cover for preventative maintenance every couple of years.

Comments or suggestions are appreciated.

k

 

[TalonDancer]

...Comments or suggestions are appreciated....

If a tie rod does not have a grease insert...
Unless you catch the a torn dust cover BEFORE any dirt gets into the tie rod end, replacing the boot is a temporary fix. The end of a tie rod is essentially a ball and socket. Once the dirt gets into the socket you have to completely remove the grease to get the dirt out. Then you have to replace the grease IN the socket which is not easy to do. Lots of grease within the dust boot area does very little good.

OTOH if the tie rod does have a grease insert...
You can clean the ball and socket in a parts washer. After is is completely dry , fill the socket, while the tie rod is not under pressure (i.e. not installed). Then install the new dust boot to protect the grease from contamination.

Talon Dancer

 

[kbota]

I understand about greasing the ball and socket. Problem is the tie rod is completely assembled and there is the blind area beneath the ball. I did do a solvent wash, to remove the old grease from both tie rod ends prior to installing the new dust cover. Also spread as much grease as possible on the upper portion of the ball/socket prior to installing the new dust covers. You can only do so much, and I wasn't ready to pay $150 for a new tie rod when this one was essentially in good shape, and will probably last another 20 years.

Best solution would be grease zerks on both tie rod ends ported to both sides of the ball/socket. But that would cost an additional .17 cents per tractor. That cuts into the profit margins.

k

 

[TedLaRue]

Sometimes you can flex the boot a little and slide the needle up under the edge of the boot, thus leaving the boot without any hole in it.

Some tie rod ends that don't have zerk fittings have a teflon insert that serves as part of the lubrication. I don't think you'll have any problem with your joints failing prematurely. And if one of them does go bad, your steering might get a little sloppy, but it's not as if it's going to drop off when you're doing 70mph on the interstate (a possibility in a car).

 

[TalonDancer]

I understand about greasing the ball and socket. Problem is the tie rod is completely assembled and there is the blind area beneath the ball. I did do a solvent wash, to remove the old grease from both tie rod ends prior to installing the new dust cover. Also spread as much grease as possible on the upper portion of the ball/socket prior to installing the new dust covers. You can only do so much, and I wasn't ready to pay $150 for a new tie rod when this one was essentially in good shape, and will probably last another 20 years....

Sorry if my first reply was a bit pedantic. As TedLaRue points out, the risk of failure in a tractor is much reduced compared to a car at high speed.

It's quite easy to see play in a tractor tie rod. And since you know this is a potential weak point on your tractor, you can monitor it over time and decide when (if ever) you need to replace the tie rod.

BTW you can force grease into the socket manually, using a technique similar to hand greasing ball/roller bearings. Essentially you apply lots of grease to the upper part of the ball. Then use one hand to seal most of the perimeter and hold the ball to one side, while squeezing grease into a small section of the perimeter on the other side with your other thumb. Keep doing this until you make it all the way around. The problem is that you can't see how much grease you got into the socket

Talon Dancer

 

[kbota]

I actually considered trying to compress the ball a little further into the socket, and then using a can of "spray grease" and plastic nozzle to get grease behind the ball, but I was concerned of the "press in" seal behind the tie rod end. I sure didn't want to damage that.

Anyway, I'm pretty satisfied with how things turned out. However it probably won't last over 40 years or so.

k