[Vwdiesel] tie rod removal

[Nate Wall]

Been there before. You're not gonna like my answer, but here goes:

Consider doing both sides. The other is bound to fail soon.

Manual steering, right?

This was just about the worst job I ever did on my Jetta ('85 A-2, so it should
be the same as the Golf). I did both sides, so your job may be easier w/ just
one side. It took the ENTIRE weekend. Consider doing both sides.

Bentley says just to loosen the lock nut, yea, right!

The tie rod lock nuts are impossible to get at w/ the rack mounted on the car. I
repeat, Impossible.

1.  Remover the wheel on the side you're replacing.

2.  Place car solidly on jack stands in the front, so you can get under it.

3. Remove all the rack mounting nuts/bolts, including the steering coupler.
Remove the tie rod studs from the steering knuckle. (I used a puller combined w/
hammer blows on the stud w/ the nut on to protect the threads)

4. Note that the rack will NOT clear the car (its caged in) unless one of the
tie rods is removed. Not an issue if you are just doing one side. Or you may
prefer to leave it under the car to do both. For some reason, I got mine out on
the work bench. Slide the rack as far to the side (right or left, depending
which side you're replacing the tie rod on) as possible.

5.  The lock nut should now be at about brake rotor position, or a little
further out from the car). Now you have enough clearance to get a wrench on that
two-sided %&^#@ lock nut. (I used a Crescent wrench). Loosen the nut. COUNT the
number of turns it takes to remove the rod. Write the number down.

6.  Measure the old tie rod and adjust the new tie rod end to approximate the
length of the old. Lock it in place.

7. slip on a new inner boot. (you may want to lube your rack w/ grease before
this).

8. Install the new tie rod and end. Screw the new tie rod onto the rack, the
same number of turns it took to remove it.

9. Secure the boot BEFORE you mount the rack to the car. The boot is damn near
impossible to get onto the rack. It must be stretched quite a bit, and
underneath the car. w/ the rack mounted, is impossible to reach to do it!. I
know, I spent hours trying.

10. Now is a great time to replace the big boot that protects the steering
coupler, if its bad. Mine was about $28 from VW and special order. This is a
real pain to replace--to get it to seat on the big (firewall) side.

11. Mount everything (rack) correctly. Use loc-tite on the steering coupler bolt
threads.

12. Get an alignment ASAP.

Good luck!

--Nate

dennis pantazis wrote:

> i need to replace the tie rod end on the drivers side on my 85 golf, manual
> steering. i do not have replaceble ends, so i need to replace the entire rod
> asembly. i have removed the rubber boot and the wheel bearing assembly.
>
> bentley just says loosen and unscrew. i am trying from undeneath to loosen
> the lock ring and the end, but i can not figure out how to get at it. there
> does not seem to be any room to get at it with a wrench from top or bottom.
> anyone replaced the rods with the rack on the car? how did yo do it?
>
> thanks in advance
>
> dennis
>
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