How to separate front tire knuckle to replace dust boot? L3800

[crazyal]

The one I have is made by OTC (#6297). the part that slides around the rubber boot on the tie rod end is too narrow for my tractor. Not sure if your's is the same size. The nut on the bottom of the tie rod is a 27mm. You might be able to get a pitman arm puller that will fit. I've had good luck separating tie rod/ ball joints by using a jack. Loosen the nut so it's flush with the bottom of the threaded part and then jack it up by placing the jack on the threaded part/ nut. With a tractor I think you'll have to lift both sides evenly. Once you have the weight of the front on the jack you hit the side of the metal housing the threaded part goes through. It's solid so you give it a hard hit without doing damage.

 

[Leejohn]

You are putting a boot on, I would try a little heat where crazyal said to hit
and the pickle fork. Go easy on hitting it hard, its not how hard you can it, but the way and the spot.

 

[Rail Dawg]

I do appreciate the help here. It's harder than I thought and will try again here shortly to get it apart. These are rookie questions but do I get one of those propane torches and just lightly heat the area? That won't melt the paint or anything like that will it?

 

[Leejohn]

I don't see why it would not do the job, it's shouldn't take a lot heat. Heat a little then try driving the fork in, again heat a little more until it come loose. You are driving the fork in and not useing as a prybar aren't you?

 

[SDT]

DO NOT strike the end of the threaded shaft even if you do not plan to reuse the knuckle. The shaft is tapered. Striking it on the end will cause the shaft to expand making it MUCH more difficult to remove.

You can usually use a pickle fork to disassemble such assemblies but the so-called "two hammer" method is much easier and you need not rent, borrow or buy a pickle fork.

Hold a large, e.g., 3-4 lb. hammer against one side of the arm beside the shaft to be removed to absorb the impact force. Solidly strike the arm on the side of the arm opposite the back up hammer with a 2-2 1/2 pound hammer such that the force of the striking hammer is transmitted through the bore of the arm and absorbed by the larger back up hammer. After two or three good solid strikes the tapered shaft will pop out.

SDT

 

[Baby Grand]

Wail on it; but using the backing hammer, as SDT suggested. Basically the second, heavy hammer placed on the other side of the "donut" presents an "immovable mass", preventing the blow from the first hammer from moving the donut in the opposite direction and forces it to ovalize, squeezing the tapered shaft out of the tapered hole like squeezing a wet bar of soap in your hand. For this to work, you need to be able to position the head of the second hammer directly against the donut and 180 degrees from where the donut gets struck with the first hammer. If there isn't enough space to do this, then gentle heating with the torch and repeated hammering on the pickle fork should do it. Good luck!

 

[crazyal]

I wouldn't on the threaded end of the tie rod at all. Maybe if I used a piece of brass between the hammer and the threads but that's it. Even the two hammer method can do damage. Hammers are designed to hit metal without being damaged, a tie rod is not. The way I talked about above you are using a jack to put force of the weight of the tractor on the tie rod end and then you are hitting on the metal piece on outside of the hole. On cars and trucks this works very well. When doing a ball joint the coil spring proves more than enough force. If you want to apply heat I would get a thin piece of steel and make a shield to protect the tie rod boot and to keep from heating up the grease in the tie rod end making a mess. Even on rusty joints I have never used heat. Usually the tapered hole is so tight there's little rust inside the hole or on the tie rod end.

The biggest problem I can see to doing it this way is that the front axle pivots so if you wan tall the front end weight on the jack you would need to jack it up pretty high and then because the axle is now at an angle the jack is not pushing directly up on the tie rod end. or not jacking very high and only having half the weight. Of course you could put a load of dirt or something into the bucket to add weight.

 

[azbinder]

couple of weeks ago, I resealed the front knuckles on an L35 and removed the tie rod ends using my pickle fork. I think that it only took two blows of my 3# hammer for each side.

 

[Rail Dawg]

The mechanics where I go the tractor were pretty strong about not applying heat to the doughnut. Said it weakens it...

Thoughts? I may have to buy a new tie-rod end and bang the old one out by hitting on the threads. I had hit the threads earlier before I came on here and while not munching them up I may have expanded the part so much it won't come out.

Lessons learned...

So what do you think about heat before I spend the $120 for a tie-rod end?

 

[Bluegill2]

A little heat will not weaken the parts. I've been working iron and steel for over 30 years and the guys at your shop are just wrong.

If your pickle fork fits right, you just need to hit it harder.