Tightening those OTEs can be annoying! Sometimes the impact will finish the job, last time I used the weight of the truck to hold it so it wouldn't turn while I tightened the nut down.

Good Morning!

 

Good morning to you too! Sorry to hear the snow is not coming back today. Rain is good but rain after snow is not as good. You can't sled on snow.

So do you thing that OTE is still good? I don't think the stud was turning, just that it never got tight. If the nut is tightened down to where the boot is the hole in the stud for the cotter pin is way above the castle nut, rendering it useless. I don't know if that's a defect or what but not knowing more about them I thought a new one would be best (especially if it's warranteed)

On a brighter note, we planted 2 tomato plants and a few snap peas this weekend. A little late but we should still get some good stuff from them. The broccoli and cauliflower is almost done.

Hab - when do you get to start planting again?

 

Another week or two I'll start the indoor stuff. Peas late March/ early April. Mid April is when the back gets sore.

Yeah, the tie-rod should be fine. Sometimes they're a real pain to get tight, the ball just spins and the nut won't tighten. You aren't losing it any more than I was the first time it happened to me.

 

MMmmm.... sore back. Worst part of gardening. Totally worth it though. How did the hike go?

So when the nut gets tight do I just drill another hole for the cotter pin? Seems fishy to me.

 

Something is not rite with that end buddy.

 

Well I went and got another tie rod end today. Same issue

This picture shows the problem a little better, except this nut got tight and is properly torqued:



So I took some measurements and this is what I found.

At first I thought maybe the ball joint mounting plate was thinner on the new ball joint than the old. And it was! But not significantly. The old was 18.41mm and the new was 17.98mm. Less than half a mil. Stumped.

Then I wondered about where the hole was drilled in the stud. So I measured from the bottom of the hole to the surface of the tie rod end. Old 40.32mm. New 48.41mm. With the hole being less than 8 mils in diameter I successfully located the problem.

At this point I'm tempted to put 8mm of washers in between or drill a new hole, but I'm going to find the right part.

Since this is the last one the parts store had, I won't be getting another one from them. I guess I need to call around and see who has them in stock and take my calipers with me. Stupid almost correct parts. [/rant]

 

Ooooh, that's no good. I didn't see the cotter pin hanging out up in the air like that. I thought you were just having trouble with the nut not tightening down. I used Toyota outer tie rod ends because with my discount they were close enough in price. No problem with the nut vs. cotter pin with them.

Hike was great!

 

Well there are no more left outer tie rod ends withing 60 miles of my zip code. Ha. Oh well.

I got fed up with parts stores and ordered a new one from the dealership. More money but worth it for the fact it will get here and will work. No complaints there. Hopefully tomorrow night it'll be all done and ready for an alignment. Now I just need to go back and rent a puller and get the current one off and back to the ill fitting place from whence it came.

 

good luck on build man

 

Well I guess 3rd times the charm.

Back on all 4 tires. No problems except I'm convinced the next thing I buy for the rig is 1" adapters. I'm tired of 1/4" spacers. Terrible. Now tomorrow it gets an alignment and we're back in business.

 

Success!... well sort of. I got an alignment today and they said they couldn't get the caster right. If pulls a little to the right on the freeway, around town it isn't really noticeable, but I only drove it home from the shop. The alignment is good for 3 years so I've got plenty of time to fix/replace whatever I need to.

On these rigs is castor adjusted with the lower cams? I didn't replace the control arm bushings on the passenger side. Then looked ok and the shop said they replaced them before I bought it (12K miles ago), but I have no paperwork or proof of that.

I know the truck was in a collision on the front passenger's side before I got it so I guess something could be bent.

It was dark when it came back from the shop so when I get some time and it's light outside I need to go check where the cams are set and take some measurements to see whats straight or not straight.

Anyways here's the numbers



As far as driving goes I'm very happy with the difference. There are no more squeaks going over bumps and no clanking felt in the steering wheel. That nasty rusty inner tie rod end was probably the culprit for the clanking.

 

Oh almost forgot. Here's our very jerry rigged stuck in backwards control arm busing press (the word press here is used very loosely)



That's the proper use of those tools, right Jason?

 

Mine still pulled as well after my lift. Try to rotate your tires and see if the pull goes away. That was my issue even though my tires looked perfect.

 

Glad you got it back on the road. The pull has to be aggravating after all that work but I'm sure you will get it sorted our. My opinion of proper use of tools is if they work to get the job done, my old shop teacher would freak if he were to see some of the things I do lol.

 

Wouldn't it be great to be able to afford every 'proper' tool you wanted?
Then again, you wouldn't get to do any head scratching. Boring!

Good work, unwork, work, unwork, work, unwork, work, unwork, work!

 

Thanks everyone. This really made me laugh.

I hadn't thought about tires. That makes total sense. I was really tired last night. They are worn really bad on the inside, because of all the worn stuff I replaced.

I've got new tires that are going on this weekend and we'll see if that helps, but I'd still like to get this caster problem figured out. Just my mild ocd.

More head scratching time...

Jason that pile of parts looks mighty good

 

Well I got the new tires on last night. Didn't drive it after I put them on so I'll find out today when we go out to anza borrego! I'll report back later.

 

Good Luck!

 

Well Hab you might as well have said good luck to a fisherman.

I waited for my buddy to get done helping his step dad move some stuff. His dad told him it wasn't much, it ended up being a whole apartment. We were going to leave at noon and he was still unloading the truck at 6pm. Shucks. We're going to shoot for next weekend.

I kept the better of the two old front tires so I'd have a full size spare. Treadwright says that the outer diameter of the tire is 32.2 inches. I'd heard that people crammed 33" spares up under there.

At first try it wasn't going anywhere. It got stuck on the hitch and the panhard. So I let most of the air out (I always have a pump in the truck) and that helped minimally. I tried getting the tire up there at a bunch of different angles. Then I thought about grease.

I put a little grease on the hitch and the rear frame crossmember and it slid right up. I just hope that it comes down ok. I'll try that in a few weeks.

Also took the opportunity to lube the winch for the spare. Can't forget that.

 

Well I finally got to go out to the desert on Saturday. My wife's cousin got married on Saturday also (at 2pm) so we got up at 6 and got to go play for a couple hours before all the fancy stuff. I only got one picture, and it's not really of wheeling, but I like it anyways.



The truck worked perfectly. No complaints. All the slop and noise in the front end is gone. It even had to work harder than normal because I was going to go with my buddy in his XJ Cherokee but guess what was broke? Well we had two extra passengers and it was a good time. Found some really small caves to crawl around in. Not for the claustrophobic.

Moving on to other issues with the rig. It's had bad gas mileage ever since I bought it but it has run well. I thought yesterday that I would check the front o2 sensor but I can't get the stupid plastic clip apart. I disconnected the mounting bolt from the transmission and that made it easier. I've even used pliers to grab on it and it won't budge. There is a small plastic clip on one side that I'm lifting with a flat screw driver. Anything I'm missing?