One of the tie rod ends started making clunking noises on me. I got under the car and could reproduce the clunk by wrestling the passenger-side tie rod around. The center draglink doesn't make any noise. The sound is coming from the tie rod end at the idler arm - coincidentally, one of the tie rod ends that's getting drenched in oil right now while I'm waiting on parts to repair the leak in turbo supply/return lines. (The boot looks fine, so I wonder why it's making noise now...)

1. I was thinking I'd just replace one tie rod end without replacing the whole tie rod... Should it be easy enough to get the tie rod end out of the tie rod?

2. I'm of the "smack the side of the tapered eye with the hammer" school, and pickle forks generally don't work for me. Question is - is it ok to whack the side of the idler arm HARD to get this joint out? I'm guessing yes, but since the factory manual refers to a joint puller/press, I thought I'd double check that I can't damage the idler arm that way.

Thanks.

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84 300SD - bought in April '06 with 237,000 mi

I'm might get $hit for this, but i used a pickle fork on most of them, but the real hard ones, i smacked the head of the threaded tapered end with a hammer. i figured "who cares about the threads, I'm replacing them"

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Don't hit anything on the tierod. Smack the knuckle the tierod goes into as hard as you like. Preferably, use a brass or dead-blow hammer.

That's exactly how I meant. I use the mid-sized ball-pein hammer. It has enough mass and you can still swing it fast enough. Just wanted to check that it's ok to smack the idler arm.

Is it easy to remove the old tie rod end out of the link and put the new one in? You have to undo the clamp first, I presume? I havent done these Mercedes ones before, do they screw out with relative ease?

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84 300SD - bought in April '06 with 237,000 mi

The cost of the complete tie rod versus the tie rod end probably doesn't justify the effort required to get that end out. Sometimes they can be nearly impossible without the correct tool.

And.........a question for Lance:

If you're going to toss the tie rod anyway..........can't you just pound on the nut that's sitting on top of the threads? I did this on the POS Dodge with some success. The entire affair tends to move on the Dodge which lowers the impact strength of the hammer.

I did mangle the threads so badly that the nut could not be removed. Had to torch it off.

You certainly can hit it. I usually keep that for a last resort because if you mushroom the threaded rod too much, you won't be able to get it though the hole.

Smacking the spindle works 90% of the time for me anyways.

Do you use a backup anvil so that the force is concentrated in the joint? Most of the force of the hit causes the joint to move without an anvil...........my theory on why it's not always successful.........

Thats the way to do it but I usually just hit it with a brass hammer.

Ohhh I guess I better plan on doing some extra hammering at the steering knuckle...

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84 300SD - bought in April '06 with 237,000 mi

I haven't done it personally........yet.........but the mechanic changed the two tie rods effortlessly in about 1 hour.......or less. I suppose that's it's all in the way you hit it.........

A preference for brass..........to prevent damage to the socket???

pickle fork works just fine.. if you are putting new tie rods in

Yes, brass is the softer metal so any deforming will occur in the hammer rather than object being hit.

The hammer doesn't wear as much as you'd think. I've had to cut the mushroom off my hammer about once a year.

Yep, I use brass all the time for my "persuasion" on assembly of my tools.

The only downside is that it marks the black oxide on finished components........so, I must be extra careful...........sometimes I need the plastic mallets.

Why is it a problem, though, getting the tie rod ends out of the tie rods? Aren't they just straight thread all the way from the end? Just curious.

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84 300SD - bought in April '06 with 237,000 mi