Need advice on breaking free rear 4kq tierods and ball joints

[Roa, Greg]

Had a similar problem with my 86 4kcsq as well.  I was able to get the rear
tie rod ends loose with a torch, and a large hammer.  They were not reusable
when I was done though.  The ball joint on the drivers side was nearly
impossible to remove.  What I ended up doing was pulling the ball joint
seat(not sure what it is called)out from the control arm, and removing it
and the strut assembly as one piece.  I then went down to the workshop, and
tried to remove it with a torch.  Couldn't get it.  Then I tried a torch,
and a large sledge.  Still couldn't get it.  Eventually, I took the bolts
off of the joint, where it seats into the bottom of the strut assy, and
cut/pried the joint out, so I just had the ball joint and seat as a piece.
Then the drill press got the ball joint out.  Took me a total of 3.5 hours
for that side.  Funny enough, the passenger side ball joint popped right out
with a little heat and a tap from the hammer, and I was able to use the
appropriate tool to get the joint out of the strut assembly.  That side took
much less time.    Wasn't a very elegant way to fix it, but it worked, and
the rear suspension is much tighter.  The guy at the alignment shop was
appreciative.  I dropped off the car, and he rolled his eyes and started
cussing under his breath.  When I went back to pick it up though, he was
smiling, and said "that was the easiest alignment I've ever done on one of
those damn cars".  I guess it helps when every component on the suspension
has just been replaced.  :)
Sorry for my ramble, and good luck with yours.

Greg Roa
86' 4kcsq
93' 90cs
83' 944


From: "Robinson, Michael/SJC" <mrobinso at CH2M.com>
To: "Quattro List (E-mail)" <quattro at audifans.com>
Subject: Need advice on breaking free rear 4kq tierods and ball joints
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2000 13:08:21 -0600
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Hi all,

Last weekend I was helping my friend install coilovers into his 86 4000csq.
The coilovers are coming from another friend's 85 4kq which has been deemed
totalled by insurance from a front end colision.  The strut assemblies in
each car are in fine shape, so the plan was to do a fairly easy swap of the
strut towers.  The front end was done with few problems; the tie rods were
on good, but we got them off with a puller, torch and WD-40.  As we got to
the rear of the donor car, we found it impossible to get the tierods and
balljoints out.  We have not even tried removing the stock system on the 86.
I need any advice or tricks that people have used to get those tierods out.
The only thing I can think of right now is to just pull the enitre control
arm with the tierod still atached and put that in the new car.  I'd rather
not do that though.  Any suggestions would help.

Mike Robinson
Borderline Motorsports
1988 Audi 90 quattro, not stock
2000 A4 2.8 quattro, USTCC race car