Help - Loose Rear Tie Rod
 

I wanted to change the rear right tie rod on my '88 190e, as it was bent. I couldn't get the eccentric bolt off since I didn't have cutting tools, so instead of buying them, I decided to take the car to the mech. So, I put the nut back on the eccentric bolt, that was fine.

Then, I put the balljoint end back (4e in the 1st pic), tried to tighten the nut and it just won't tighten. Don't have the right size allen to stick in the balljoint head, too late to get one now. Funny because the allen did fit in the new part, but doesn't in the old one??!!

So now the car has a kind of loose, old tie rod. The wheel is visibly off camber and a 1 km test drive went ok (with some screeching), and the nut didn't move (I felt it with my hand and it was in the same position). But, I was quite nervous, especially about the screeching.

So now I have 2 questions:

1. Can I drive the car about 40 miles to my indy?
2. Can I drive it on the highway?
3. Am I insane and I should just get it towed NOW, DAMMIT?

Any answers before I leave home in 5 hours would be greatly appreciated.

Pics:

TIE ROD REFERENCE
http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~raman/rear_tierod.jpg

BALLJOINT GAP
http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~raman/d...ljoint_gap.jpg

NEARLY OFF NUT
http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~raman/d...ly_off_nut.jpg

CAMBER 1
http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~raman/d...r/camber_1.jpg

CAMBER 2
http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~raman/d...r/camber_2.jpg

CAMBER LEFT SIDE (UNDAMAGED)
http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~raman/d...amber_left.jpg

Mad1

With the bolt and nut in place, use a screwdriver to lever the joint apart. This will help give some tension to the loose ball joint so that you can tighten the nut up.

I thought that the ball joint stud has a allen key fitting to hold it in place?

Oreo

yup, the allen stud was rusted, so I couldn't get a 4mm or 5mm to fit (4mm too big, 5mm too small). When you say "lever the ball joint apart, how do you mean? Where would I put the screwdriver in the picture?

Just anywhere in between the tierod and the suspension piece to force the joint apart (with the nut on of course). You want to apply tension to the ball joint so that it jams up internally and it would give you enough friction to tighten up the nut. As it is now the ball joint is already worn and it just rotating in there.

You sure you cannot whack the 5mm in?

I'm pretty sure about the 5mm, cuz it's an L-shaped key with a rounded bend.

I'll go try to do what you said. It'll take a while cuz I have to raise the car and everything. Will update later......

Even with the L shape allen key you can still whack it in.

I couldn't make any progress:

With the balljoint on its mounting point, there is no clearance to whack in an allen. There is just enough for the allen itself.

In the present state, there is no space to lever in the screwdriver to separate the balljoint internals.

Since I can't whack in the allen, I can't remove or tighten the nut.

Ergo, I'm stuck. I guess there is nothing to do but hope that I don't lose a wheel on the highway on my way to the mech......

Thanks for the ideas, Oreo..... I'll update what happens at the mech's

Try getting a similarly sized Torx bit and whacking that in. This method has saved me many times!