Hello All.

I am new to the community, and have been "lurking" for a while now. Last month I picked up a 91' Trans Am, and have been doing some much needed refreshing of some components.

So far I have done the struts and shocks, the sway bar endlinks, bled the brakes, repacked the wheel bearings, and now I am on to the steering components...

I took the castle nuts off of the outer tie rods, I intend to disassemble as one piece, per recommendations on this site, and I have had no success in getting the tie rod out of the Knuckle. This is not the first time Ive changed a tie rod, but first time where I had trouble removing the tie rod. I tried the pickle fork, a hammer, a bigger hammer, a bigger hammer and the pickle fork at the same time... and not even a budge.

After searching many threads, instructions on removing these don't seem to exist, leading me to believe that I am probably missing something obvious. I apologize if i missed the "correct thread." Probably doesn't help that I started on the steering at 2AM...

So... Any advice on these stuck guys would be appreciated. Thanks all.

 

Use 2 hammers and simultaneously strike a blow on the steering arm from both sides, that will loosen it up. Use a ball joint seperator if needed and put a preload on it. Do not use a pickle fork.

use THIS

 

You can 'rent' the tie rod separator from AZ or one of the other chains.

 

Bigger hammer or swing harder.

I use a 40oz mallet. Hit the knuckle, not the tie rod. If it doesn't separate, hit it harder.

 

Thank you everyone for the tips. I used a 5lbs mallet and 2 good hits each got them free.

The car has now been reassembled and will be realigned tomorrow. Looking forward to taking her for a drive!