What is the best way to remove the outer tie rods on a base 68 cougar? I was gonna loosen the castle nut and smash the knuckle with a hammer
There is an actual tool made for separating tie rods and ball joints from where they bolt on to the spindle. I have known it to be called a pickel bar, I have no idea how it came to be known by that name. The end of the bar is forked shaped with the 2 forks being wedge shaped. You place the ends of the fork just above the rubber boot and just below the spindle mounting surface. Then you just use a 3 pound sledge hammer to hammer it in. As the wedge shape of the forks go deeper in they force the joint to separate from the spindle.
Randy Goodling
CCOA #95
I use a tool from Harbor Freight called a tie rod end separator but it works great on ball joints too. It’s about $30 plus tax.
I used a pickle fork type tool for many years. The problem with those is you can’t re - use the joint after using one. It destroys the ball joint. The Harbor Freight tool doesn’t.
Been looking at that tool - great to know it works!
Here’s the reason for the use of the name pickle fork ( ‘bar’ ) for the automotive tool, when compared to the piece of table ware with the same name :
They apparently dropped the price and now they call it a Ball Joint Separator.
They want $19.99 for one which is a lot less than I paid maybe 10 years ago.
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Agree Royce! Have used this same HF tool a couple times now for tie rod ball joint to spindle steering arm removal that you reference. Worked well on a '63 C10, and again on a '69 Cougar, and steering rack tie rod ends of '01 Buick. It was not as violent as the pickle fork, and didn’t tear up the rubber boot or damage the tie rod end so part could still be reused. Helped too on the drag link to idler arm link removal when I didn’t want to ruin earlier replaced components. This link on how the tool works is helpful that Worse than Chiggers posted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcCfWmrVQfM&t=7s
When using this tool it needs to be fully seated. The tips of the fingers are not that strong and will break. Used properly they do a great job.
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