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I didn’t even know it was Thursday (last week) until mid afternoon. As soon as I regained awareness, I checked on the Morning Open Thread and saw what I had missed. I sure appreciate all of the crew that accepted my absence and took control of the comments. Thank you so much for that kindness. This diary is an apology and explanation of events.
I am sorry.
So here’s the scoop on the other thing I’ve been dealing with (beyond reworking finances). I decided to deal with the minor “shimmy” in the front end of my truck. Here were my discoveries.
The tie rod end ball joint (red circled segments) had worn out at both wheel attachment points. The inner ball joints of the separate tie rods (circled in blue) were also worn and needed replacing. Since these are mirror imaged parts, I required two outer and two inner tie end rods for the job. Work should be so easy.
After spending 8 hours laboring to remove one section of ball joints. I discovered two things.
The first thing I discovered was none of the original factory parts are available. Along with the new knowledge that finding “after market” replacements are nearly impossible.
More importantly (as seen in the photo above) the linkage was installed incorrectly. In the photo above, the blue circle shows how the tie rod is attached to the center steering control arm on my truck.
I found the control arm was forward with the “lock nut” exposed. Here is a enlarged section of the factory diagram showing the tie rod (blue shaded) positioned forward of the center control arm (yellow shaded) and the lock nut positioned toward the rear of the vehicle.
You may be asking the same questions the “The Smiths” asked.
# 1, a ball joint has a tapered shaft, then a threaded section where the nut is attached.
#2, the connection point has a tapered opening also and is designed to receive the ball joint from a specific direction. My diagram shows the misalignment due to material thickness (offset in angle and distance) if mounted improperly.
Here is a photo of my attempt to separate the inner tie rod end from the control arm. I was unable to separate the two parts (hence the 8 extra hours of labor).
I will use all my imagination and resources for a remedy. So, fear not fellow adventurers. This is just a “belch” in the grand scheme of a gaseous life.
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