Inner tie rod kicking my ass - ideas?

Hey Guys,

Im in the middle of doing balljoints, inner and outer tie rods on my 96 4x4. Ive gotten the outer tie rods, the clamps, and the boot off and am looking at the inner tie rods. I also beat back the lock washer clamps so they are not crimped in anymore.

However, I cannot get the inner tie rod to move. I tried a plumber's wrench, tried banging the wrench with a big hammer, tried vise grips - cant spin the inner tie rod loose.
I though the inner tie rod tool from Autozone would help, but the Tacoma inner tied rods have a 41 or 42 mm diameter and most of the tie rod tools dont go that far. The rental one from Autozone is this one:



But its way too small for the Tacoma inner tie rod. The other solution I thought of was the Harbor Freight tool:



But again, the biggest crowfoot it comes with is I believe 1 7/16 - whereas the one I need is about a 1 5/8.

The only inner tie rod tool I can find that may fit is the Lisle 54500 which contains a 42 mm crowfoot.


However, that is $60-80 and I can only find it online - which means I need to wait another 3-7 days for it to arrive - with no guarantee of it working.

My last resort at the moment is this, which Im going to go pick up later today:



My inner tie rods are not really corroded or super old and nasty. I dont think they've medled themselves on to the steering rack. Im also sure I bent the tabs on the lock washer, but Ive put a lot of brute strength on them via the plumber's wrench and vise grips (yes, turning in the right direction) and I cant get it to move.

Any other suggestions?

 

I've pulled several of those inner tie rods on the early Tacoma and all I ever used was a crescent wrench and a hammer. I am curious what has them so tight. Perhaps using some rust and bolt penetrating oil like PB Blaster? (Not WD-40, Blaster is tons better)

 

Steer so its sticking out of the rack as far as you can, then put a 24" pipe wrench on it. Works EVERY time.

 

This!

I had to heat mine then use a pipe wrench. Worked great.

 

24" Pipe wrenches work for just about anything, I mean anything

 

Trouble with the neighbors? 24" Pipe wrench

 

I got some liquid wrench on there a little bit. Im not sure why its so hard... a part of my issue is leverage - Im using a shitty pipe wrench from Advance Auto and its really not getting a good grip on the inner tie rod.

 

i'd buy a pipe wrench or adjustable wrench or the correct size wrench first along with some kroil instead of those speacial tools. use a breaker bar if necessary. my jack handles is what i'll ues

 

This and heat. Just be careful not to melt anything you don't plan on replacing and have a fire extinguisher close by... I've replaced mine a few times on my 95 and I had to do that the first time. (my lift was destroying them but thank god for lifetime warranties!)

 

I have done a pretty fair amount of work on Tacoma racks. From shimming up the old roller guides to complete rebuilds. I use the the correct size wrenches, mostly because I have them. 1st gens take 41mm for the ITR and 30mm for the end of the rack shaft (OEM parts). They have always come apart for me with out much persuasion.
Pipe wrenches will work just as well but the key is 2 wrenches. Be aware that the passenger side rack shaft retracts nearly all the way into the housing. look for witness marks on the shaft from the seal and keep any pipe wrench battle scars away from where the rack end seal rides.
It is a bad idea to just twist the ITR off the rack shaft. The shaft should be held with one wrench and the ITR with another. Relying on the tiny little pinion gear and the delicate control valve assembly to "hold" the shaft is risky business. Any damage to the control valve, it's shaft or the pinion gear and your rack is FUBAR. You may luck out or you may not. I prefer science and skill.
One issue with regular wrenches is the width of the flats on the parts, they are pretty narrow and the shaft end is the narrower of the 2. Many large adjustable and regular wrenches are too wide and will not fit. "Service" wrenches are typically narrow and fit the bill for this job, see pic.

One other little item with an ITR R+R is the internal pressure equalizing passage. It is a passageway between the 2 rack boots to equalize air pressure between the boots as they expand and contract. All that can be seen of it is a little hole on one of the flats on the rack shaft ends. Just be aware of it. Don't let it get plugged with grease or gunk if there was any build up inside the boot.

 

Right on Dirty Pool - fantastic post.

I got some liquid wrench soaking the ITR now and will take another go at it in the evening or tomorrow AM. I got myself a couple new wrenches and a new ITR tool and will use my 6 ton jackstands to their potential to get some more elevation and thus room to manuver.

I'll report back in this thread when I get the bastards loose. Thanks for all the help!

 

Just bought this Proto wrench on eBay:



The 1 5/8 end should hopefully bit on to the ITR if none of my other approaches succeed.

 

After all that, I would have just bought a new steering rack...

 

Got the fucker off! Will give details later. The little ITR ring tool is a gem!

 

So for anyone that may read this thread in the future or if it comes up when someone is searching for an answer to their difficulties taking off the inner tie rod....

GET THE CAL VAN INNER TIE ROD TOOL

I picked mine up from Advance Auto for $17.99. Its the one that looks like this:


I can't tell you how easy it was to get both my ITRs off using this. I spent countless amounts of energy using pipe wrenches and hammers of various sorts and the Cal Van tool just spun the ITR off like it was a lug nut.

As Dirty Pool said earlier, it is important to apply a counter force to the steering shaft end while you are rotating the ITR to loosen. My approach was this (for the driver side):

I put the Cal-Van tool on the ITR and tightened down its 14mm nuts on each side. Then I put on (really clamped down) a pair of 10 inch Irwin Vise grips on the steering shaft - as a counter to the Cal Van tool. I jammed my Craftsman 31 in pry bar between the handles of the vise grips and the bottom of the power steering rack. This way, as I rotated the Cal Van tool to loosen the ITR, the Vise grips would counter against the pry-bar wedged under the steering rack. It took a couple of second of me cranking with an 18 inch breaker bar but the ITR broke free cleanly!

For the passenger side, I just nestled the vise grips up against the front sway bar. And as I turned the ITR tool, the vise grips jammed against the sway bar and provided a counter force. The only difference for the passenger side was that my outer tie rod and inner tie rod had welded together so I took the whole thing off in one piece. The Cal Van tool worked on both sides llike a charm. Easily worth its $18 cost, 5 times over.