Track rod ends and getting my alignment done...
Discussion
I say mine, I actually mean my girlfriends MINI....
Got some new front tyres fitting at the weekend, all good, no probs, but the plan was to then get a 4 wheel alignment as the old tyres has worn a bit unevenly. The chaps got the MINI up on their Super Tracker machine but couldn't make any adjustments to the front as 'it was seized tight'! The guy said to bring it back when they had more time to look at it, they'd get the wheel off and try again.
I didn't have a problem with this but as I knew Kwik Fit near us has a Hunter machine, I thought I'd try them. Unfortunately they had the same issue but had a different method to getting the problem sorted....KF said we'd need to have the track rod ends replaced, meaning they could then make the required adjustments to the front tracking etc.
Does this sound about right chaps? The Kwik Fit guys have always been pretty good for us but I thought I'd check the knowledge of PHers first.
Annoyingly, the company we've used for the last few years haven't had this seizing problem before, meaning it's only become seized in the last year [it's a 56 MINI] or the guys we normally use are damn good. It's a bit of a journey to them though, hence why we were trying to get it sorted locally.
Cheers for any help
Got some new front tyres fitting at the weekend, all good, no probs, but the plan was to then get a 4 wheel alignment as the old tyres has worn a bit unevenly. The chaps got the MINI up on their Super Tracker machine but couldn't make any adjustments to the front as 'it was seized tight'! The guy said to bring it back when they had more time to look at it, they'd get the wheel off and try again.
I didn't have a problem with this but as I knew Kwik Fit near us has a Hunter machine, I thought I'd try them. Unfortunately they had the same issue but had a different method to getting the problem sorted....KF said we'd need to have the track rod ends replaced, meaning they could then make the required adjustments to the front tracking etc.
Does this sound about right chaps? The Kwik Fit guys have always been pretty good for us but I thought I'd check the knowledge of PHers first.
Annoyingly, the company we've used for the last few years haven't had this seizing problem before, meaning it's only become seized in the last year [it's a 56 MINI] or the guys we normally use are damn good. It's a bit of a journey to them though, hence why we were trying to get it sorted locally.
Cheers for any help
The trouble with TRE's is they often have really small flats on the track rod which are hard to get any purchase on without rounding them off. You can't really use heat on them as you risk fubaring the ball joint gaiter or the nylon lining. If the garage spend time on it and wreck them in the process they'd end up having to replace the track rods anyway. Probably down to time spent vs. income on that bay for what in theory is a quick job. you could always jack it up and see if you can undo it yourself then take it back to them.
Rather than heating with a naked flame to free things up, try and find a garage with an induction heater (a wand type device that uses magnetic flux to generate localised heat in ferrous components). Can get the locking nuts glowing cherry red in a few seconds and in my experience they always free up without knackering the TREs.
Induction heater - one of the best workshop tools ever!!
Induction heater - one of the best workshop tools ever!!
Thanks for the help thus far guys.
Actually foggy, I think the garage we've used for the last few years has an induction heater [they certainly didn't use a naked flame] to get things lose etc. As mentioned though, the reason we didn't go to them last weekend was that we were hoping to get it sorted locally - maybe we need to pay them a visit during the Xmas break now though?!
The chap in the first place we tried last weekend tried the flame method but no luck. Not sure about Kwik Fit as they wouldn't let me go watch!
I don't really have the kit or knowledge to get the car in the air and try myself [I really want to do a night course in basic mechanics, if only I had the time], so my choices are go back to the first place and the guy will whip the wheel and see what he can do, get the TRE's replaced at Kwik Fit [about £100 for both I think, inc fitting] or pay my original guys a visit, who haven't had a problem the last few years, and hope they can sort the alignment without the need to replace anything.
Actually foggy, I think the garage we've used for the last few years has an induction heater [they certainly didn't use a naked flame] to get things lose etc. As mentioned though, the reason we didn't go to them last weekend was that we were hoping to get it sorted locally - maybe we need to pay them a visit during the Xmas break now though?!
The chap in the first place we tried last weekend tried the flame method but no luck. Not sure about Kwik Fit as they wouldn't let me go watch!
I don't really have the kit or knowledge to get the car in the air and try myself [I really want to do a night course in basic mechanics, if only I had the time], so my choices are go back to the first place and the guy will whip the wheel and see what he can do, get the TRE's replaced at Kwik Fit [about £100 for both I think, inc fitting] or pay my original guys a visit, who haven't had a problem the last few years, and hope they can sort the alignment without the need to replace anything.
I've used a good slop of copper grease on mine before to seal out moisture and stop the threads rusting. It does wash off eventually as the TRE threads lead a very hard life, but won't do any harm as a bit of preventative maintenance, which "might" stop them being seized in the future.
BUG4LIFE said:
Actually foggy, I think the garage we've used for the last few years has an induction heater [they certainly didn't use a naked flame] to get things lose etc. As mentioned though, the reason we didn't go to them last weekend was that we were hoping to get it sorted locally - maybe we need to pay them a visit during the Xmas break now though?!
Go for it! Half an hour and job jobbed, locking nuts and flats still nut shaped and flat without rubbishy rounded off corners which make the job even more challenging the next time your lass uses the kerbs as guidance aids and it needs doing again 
MINI have a bad habbit of seizing bolts on the suspension, we have one in work atm for the wishbone rear bushes the 2 bolts holding the bush in goes through the arb d bush mount then into the subframe both seized solid even heat couldn't get the 1 free and ended up snapped. So had to drop the subframe down to get enough access to get the remaining bolt out.
Utterly stupid design which is getting more common with the use of aluminium with steel bolts which is the most single stupidest idea going, the other one being the polo with the stupid wishbone bush design in a separate housing to the arm, the bolt holding the arm to it is steel the housing holding the bush is ally 10 year old car impossible to get it out, also head doesn't really work to well with ally.
Utterly stupid design which is getting more common with the use of aluminium with steel bolts which is the most single stupidest idea going, the other one being the polo with the stupid wishbone bush design in a separate housing to the arm, the bolt holding the arm to it is steel the housing holding the bush is ally 10 year old car impossible to get it out, also head doesn't really work to well with ally.
They will heat the track rod ends to glowing red to move them, the heat will cause the ball joint to fail so replacement is required. Whilst the track rod end is off they should clean the thread and use copper grease on refitting.
It's common to heat them a little to get movement but I guess they are seized beyond this if they can't do it.
ETA: This is how I remove seized TREs anyway. Never had to cut one.
It's common to heat them a little to get movement but I guess they are seized beyond this if they can't do it.
ETA: This is how I remove seized TREs anyway. Never had to cut one.
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