I loosened the bolt but the tie rod won%26#039;t come out of the steering knuckle. I tried hitting it but it is stuck tight. |||I agree you need the fork tool but once you get it loose, count the turns as you unscrew it and put the new one in the same number of turns. This will get your alignment close.|||Is there a cotter pin in there?|||you need something called a %26quot;pickle fork%26quot; or in the real terms a %26quot;tie rod/ball joint seperator%26quot; it%26#039;s basically a fork shaped deal that you wedge in there and beat with a hammer.
http://www.tooltown.ca/12-Ball-Joint-Sep鈥?/a>|||If you to your local auto parts store they will have a %26quot;fork%26quot; looking tool to pry out the ball end. They are relatively inexpensive. |||have a heavy hammer 5lbs. or bigger rap as hard as u can never used a tie rod (pickle fork ever for this)|||Chev M is correct. Pickle fork is a waste of time. Hit the knuckle over and over again till the tie rod end pops loose. Careful not to hit other things, you%26#039;ll have to swing pretty hard! It sounds barbaric, but that%26#039;s how techs working on the line do it.|||I have a fork, found it pretty useless.
Find a lever that you can fit berween the steering arm and the tie rod end, after loosening the nut a couple of turns. Apply force to the lever, and if the taper does not already let go, then crack the eye of the steering arm sharply with a (not too big) hammer while still applying force with the lever. It should crack out no problem. Tyre levers, pinch bars, wrecking bars, big old screwdrivers are good levers.
NEVER try to drive the taper out by hammering on the end of the thread or nut.
Do try to take a measurement of the distance the joint screws into the tie rod, and set the new joint as close as possible to this measurement when fitting it.
