stubborn tie rod ends @ steering stem

i replaced my tie rods and ends with the heavy duty honda style. i had to pull the steering stem out but couldnt seem to get the ends off by the steering stem. for anyone that might run into this problem, here is what we did. hopefully this will save you some time and frustration.

loosen the nuts until the top of the nut is above where the threads start. get a socket that is about the same diameter as the nut. remove your hood. get as many socket extensions as you can find. make one long extension so that it will reach the nut on the tie rod end and go through the frame/plastics along the stem so that it comes out the top near the handlebars. this way you will be able to have plenty of room to use a hammer to knock the tie rod end out of the stem.

my stock tie rod ends came right out but my new ones needed a little persuasion. if anyone knows of an easier/better way. feel free to share.

Here's the best thing to do, spend the 10 bucks on a ball joint separator and just tap it two or three times!!! It looks like a beefy tapered tuning fork, and can be bought just about at any auto store. Anyone that plans to do work to tie rods or the arm ball joints shouldn't think twice about getting one. This is what it should look like, but with a close enough gap to remove the joints on your quad:



Just stick it between the ball joint and spindle and give it a quick couple taps and you have a instant undamaged removed ball joint/tie rod!!!

Never ever hit the stud on the joint's, expically on the a-arm's. I watched a friend try putting the nut on the first 4 threads and peck it with a hammer and guess what happend, IT BROKE and he had to replace the whole joint.

Do what Boxhead said and get the BallJoint Seperator.

i sorta agree with the separater but in one of the atv mags they said NOT to use those because they will tear up the rubber boot, but to just hit them with a ball peen. dont shoot the messenger, thats just what they said.

If you do it right, it will not tair the rubber off and i'm sure those come in a few different size's.

But would you rather replace the rubber boot or the whole joint?

point well taken

I just seen on your sig that Vortex is Sponsoring you, are they just giving you the basic 30% off on just chain's or are they giving you the discount on everything or even giving you anything free?

I asked them to sponsor me and Lee sent me the contract so i read it and seen that it was only 30% off on chain's but i did fill it out and sent it back to him.

Just wondering because i dont wanna bugg him about it and sometime's they offer sponsorship for more stuff but don't change what their contract's say.

discount on everything they make. i think the discount for them was around 40%. renthal and hazardous sports were the only ones under 40%. one was 27 and the other was 30.

havent gotten anything free from any of the sponsors. i'm content with just a discount for now

warrior rear sprockets are normally 63.95 and with the discount they are 38.37

The only way you could tear a boot is by having the wrong side of the fork facing the boot. I did that once but figured out it was because I was using it wrong. You don't want the tapered side facing the boot, or else it'll 'scissor' the lip of the boot while sliding over it. Keep the flat side there and the taper should slide and wedge against the spindle.

If you do have to uninstall the joints without a separator tool and happen to mess up the threads, just grind a 45 degree angle on the edge of the bolt to take off the damaged threads. I guarantee it'll screw right on, I did that twice before finding the separator at the store near me. There is no use in buying a whole joint because of a slightly damaged thread. If you have the right thread type than you could also run a die over it.