Inner tie rod replacement

[ciscokid]

I have a loose inner tie rod that I am replacing with a Moog EV117. There is a little bitty roll pin that needs to be pulled and the service manual, of course, calls for a special tool, T78P-3504-N. It is a tiny slide hammer with a tiny threaded tip that screws into the roll pin. I can buy one of these things for over $100 that I will use exactly twice.

Does anyone have another way to pull these roll pins without buying an otherwise useless tool? I have to believe that this tool is required a LOT since FoMoCo made this sort of rack and pinion for many many years.

Alternately, does anyone know of a parts store that has one of these things as a loaner?

Thanks

[roberto2000]

is it a roll pin with internal threads or is it a dowel? (not critical) you could Jack it out.... Using a screw with the same threads as the hole, and some washers and a large nut bigger than the roll pin.
threading it in with a washer on the screw tightening it will force the pin out of the hole .....stack up washers and nuts to get the desired height to get it out

I hope this helps?

[svono50]

I swear I remember cranking my inner tie rods off the rack back in the day on a former manual steering Mustang I owned, it simply sheared the pins off, which I removed/replaced when I put new ones on. Could be wrong, though, YMMV.

I can see what that tool does and its cost is a bit much for what it is, but that is generally the case for those kind of specialty tools. You could either try an easy-out bit to bite into the ID of the roll pin or maybe even a Zippy sheetmetal screw. The Zippy style screws have a much sharper/thinner point than a 'normal' sheetmetal screw. You can find them at most home improvement stores. Screw it into the ID, then use a claw hammer to pull the pin out like a nail. May be worth a shot.

Zippy screw.jpg

[ciscokid]

Yeah, I asked around and there are even a couple of you-tube videos showing how to replace them and all of them just shear the pins. The new tie rods come with new "safety pins" that are like little pop rivets. I can't imagine that they really do anything, but whatever.... I was able to replace both of my inner tie rod ends in less than an hour. Pretty easy job actually.

One thing to note for anyone else who is going to do this, in both of the you-tube videos that I watched they loosened and tightened the inner tie rods without holding the rack with another wrench, which puts a bunch of torque on the rack which is a big no-no according to the service manual, and common sense. You should hold the rack with a crescent wrench at the driver side end to counteract the torque you apply to loosen or tighten the inner rod ends.

[gbeaird]

Well, they do that so you get an opportunity to watch their next Youtube video: 'How to replace your steering rack on a Fox body Mustang'.

[svono50]

Glad to hear you got the job done and figured out the backing up the rack as it does make 'sense' to do that and not place all the stress on the pinion gear/bearing. I think that if you properly torque them down, they won't go anywhere and that the safety pins are there only as a backup.

Back in the day with my former 80 4cyl Mustang I was playing around back and forth with manual and power steering setups...car came with manual. The spindle and rack configurations were a little more 'fluid' back then and I ended up swapping components around to match up properly...until I ended up going back to the original manual setup of all things. Hey, you don't know until you know, right?!?