Help! Need inner tie rod tool!

[ignis]

Very frustrating. I started a job replacing a ton of suspension components to find out the tool I rented to remove the inner tie rod won't work. It would work if the nut on my tie rod was on the outside of the vehicle, but my tie rod is different and has the nut on the inside.

Orielly's and Autozone have the wrong kind of tool. Where can I find the right kind?

I don't have a wrench large enough to do it without the tool.

 

[blownmarauder]

get a pipe wrench.

 

[mikemaj]

inner tie rod removal tool

I ran into the same problem with my early build 02 explorer xlt. Harbor freight model 96558 sells one for around $50 and lisle model 45750 for around $90 both work for inner tie rods with inaccessible wrench flats. The lisle works out of the box but I opted to buy the harbor freight one with a 20% off coupon for a total price of $40. I did have to modify it quite a bit. The outside diameter of my tie rods didn't fit into the tool handle so I sanded the inner diameter of the handle. Also, The 1 7/16" crow foot that came with the tool was too sloppy so I cut a piece of stainless sheet metal as a shim and epoxied it to the inner wrench flat of the crows foot.

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-45750-Inner-Tie-Tool/dp/B0002SRGFW

http://www.harborfreight.com/inner-tie-rod-removal-set-96558.html

 

[xplorerguru]

Ignis, what did you end up doing?

Also can anyone else chime in? I notice my hex mount on the inner tie rod is towards the inside of the car will any tool fit over it?

 

[mrau92me]

get a pipe wrench.

I'm in the exact same situation as the initial poster with respect to the left side. Pipe wrench worked just fine on the passenger side because I could pull down on the wrench to loosen the inner tie rod, but it won't work on the left side because it would be necessary to push up on the wrench to loosen it but there's something in the way of the wrench handle.

I don't want to spend $60 on a tool I'll only use once. If anybody else has used anything else or knows a place that loans out the proper tool (#45750, I think), please chime in.

 

[mrau92me]

I'm in the exact same situation as the initial poster with respect to the left side. Pipe wrench worked just fine on the passenger side because I could pull down on the wrench to loosen the inner tie rod, but it won't work on the left side because it would be necessary to push up on the wrench to loosen it but there's something in the way of the wrench handle.

I don't want to spend $60 on a tool I'll only use once. If anybody else has used anything else or knows a place that loans out the proper tool (#45750, I think), please chime in.

OK, so I owe Blownmarauder an apology for doubting his quick answer to just use a pipe wrench. Here's what I just did to loosen the inner tie rod on the driver side using my pipe wrench:

I completely removed the outer tie rod, the jam nut, and the inner tie rod rubber boot. I then turned the steering wheel far enough left to move the inner tie rod's ball joint housing so I could get my pipe wrench on it with the handle pointing toward the front of my Mountie (I didn't put the pipe wrench on the wrench flats close to the rack). I then easily put a cheater pipe on the pipe wrench handle. Because I was a little nervous about damaging the steering rack, I slowly pushed down turning the wrench CCW to loosen the inner tie rod. It worked like a charm. This will probably work similarly on the right side although I was able to loosen that one from underneath, which was prolly the harder way.