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Well, my tie rod ends and wheel hub/bearing finally came in the mail from RockAuto (*weak* yaaaaay) and I thought I’d take the day to finally replace what I need to…I was sorely mistaken. I didn’t even bother with the wheel hub/bearing assembly yet because I’m not 100% sure if the whole steering knuckle has to come off, or if I could just pull the axle out and replace it on the car. I also couldn’t get the tie rods done because the local auto parts store doesn’t have the proper inner tie rod removal tool, they have a 2 in 1 bar (too small) and an attachment for that which fits over the tie rod end (too big) and I don’t exactly have the money to throw away on the type I was thinking of (has U-shaped ends of DIFFERENT sizes that have nubs on the end and a bar that fits over the tie rod and the U-shaped part) to use it only once…I also needed to replace the front brake pads, and because a slide pin (which is attached to the bolt , I don’t know why they did that) was stuck on each side and the brake hose wasn’t long enough, I carefully pinched off the brake line (as Eric described in his videos, vice grips with fuel line) and unbolted the banjo bolt and took the whole caliper off…which led me to have to bleed the whole system and the rear bleeder valves wouldn’t open. Simple stuff I can practically do in my sleep became hard somehow. By that point, it was too dark, I couldnt move into the garage, and I had no light so I gave up for the day.
tl;dr or my point is, seeing as I can’t get the right tool (that I know of right now) is there any sort of improvised method to remove inner tie rod ends? I tried a big pair of channel locks, but due to lack of space in the wheel well, I couldn’t get it off that way. Also, (this may be a simple duh answer, but can’t hurt to be sure) do I need to take the steering knuckle off the control arm to change the wheel hub/bearing assembly, or would it be easier not to?
Honestly, I should’ve reviewed the video on brake jobs because even though they’re relatively easy, I seem to have forgotten little things. 4 er 5 hours after I started, I was planning on just throwing the new outer tie rod end on the old inner, putting the wheels back on and going out for a bit to de-stress…but before I took it off the stands, I went to reset the front calipers, only to realize I had no brake pedal, regardless of what I did. Even with my foot to the floor, the wheels (well, technically the rotors; didn’t put the wheels back on yet) would vaguely stop, then slowly spin right back up from idle :/ I may also need to buy new rotors, because when I had the 27 point inspection, they never specified if the brake pads needed to be changed or the rotors, they just marked 5 mm under front brakes (and in the yellow, or change soon) although the rotors look useable still, it may not hurt to buy new ones…(more money, oh joy…)
Edit: Pipe wrench…I watched the Fairmont tie rod video before I started and didn’t think of…pipe wrench ._. if there’s enough room under there I may just try that and hope like hell it works…
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Also, quick note/PSA: be careful when zipping off nuts with an impact wrench (namely castle nuts with a stuck cotter pin) because you may end up torquing the nut so much you just strip it, so it gets stuck in place. This happened to me while I was taking off the old outer tie rod end and wound up having to grind off the stud from the tie rod end and prying off the castle nut o_o makes for a funny story (thankfully the new tie rod ends came with nice shiny new hardware, including a cotter pin for the new castle nut) but you may not be so lucky if you find yourself in this position
So you’ve decided to keep that car. Oh well, sounds like you’ll get plenty of experience from working on it.
Here’s a PSA for you.
Well, yes…As far as the “engine trouble” I thought I was having…is starting to seem like total bull as of lately. Since I changed the oil, the only engine issue I’ve had was a near-overheat one night because of a faulty radiator cap (which I have since replaced; see attached) that left me with a lack of coolant/antifreeze. I know it sounds excessive to “dump money” into this car but I’ve been searching for a 2nd gen eclipse for months and aside from the tie rod and wheel hub, it drives like a dream…well compared to the mustang (which has multiple problems, including a rough engine and is rear wheel drive…like comparing apples to oranges) If you’d like, I can post a video showing how the car runs because I could be wrong about that…but, I haven’t had anyone point out abnormalities (aside from the wheel hub/bearing noise)
Quite frankly, I should’ve turned the used car place down on their offer (their tag price was $2,988 whereas Blue Book says $1,750 on a good day with minimal repairs…and I should’ve noticed the place is a tad sketchy in the first place, aside from the city it’s located in ._.) because 2 days later, there was a GSX in much better condition being sold for $2,500 locally :/ but, first car, live and learn.
My opinions are based on the hundreds if not thousands of vehicles that i’ve serviced over the years. Sometimes you just get one that’s more trouble than it’s worth and it will nickel and dime you to death. The sad part is that at first you have a belief that things will get better after you replace part a and b. Well you replace a and b and then you find 2 other problems. Then 2 more, and before you know it, you could have bought a brand new car for what you’ve put into the vehicle you thought would be easy to fix. I suppose to put it another way I have a long view of this type of situation that would steer me clear of it. I’m not saying you’re wrong for loving the car like you do. Lord knows I’ve had my fair share of ‘dream cars’ that should never have been messed with. But lessons were learned and my skills got better as a result. I hope the same is true for you. Good luck.
I am really hoping that once I bleed the brakes, change the tie rods and wheel hub, I can drive this car again with little to no issues…I would’ve ditched the car and bought another if I was able, but now I can’t afford to put much more money into this nightmare at the moment :/
You’ll get there. Might be a bumpy ride, but have confidence.
One trick I think I mentioned, can’t remember where though. I have a few friends at the local exhaust shop (I’ll refrain from plugging the name LOL) The one tech does me favors from time to time. Including pressing in/out wheel bearings. I give him a few bucks (20 last time I needed strut springs swapped out) And he uses the shop tools to swap out the parts. His boss is cool with it as well, as he understands I bring the car to them for the alignments and tires and anything I can’t handle on my back under the car in our barn.
Sometimes if you ask nicely at some shops and just say “How much to press this bearing out and press the new one in?” with parts in hand? You might find one of the ‘good ol’ boys’ willing to help out.
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Eric….if I had the money, I’d take your advice to dump this forsaken hunk of metal much sooner this week and save my sanity….Couldn’t get the steering knuckle off to get the wheel hub off, so I gave up on that for the moment. The E-brake is stuck (vaguely) and I need to bleed the lines…and the bleeder bolt snapped off on one of the rear drum brakes. This has led me to the point of almost throwing a tire iron through the window yesterday :/ this is what I get for buying a poorly maintained vehicle from a slimy used car dealership that lies through their teeth….again, live and learn
Bleeder screws on wheel cylinders are very well known for snapping. Even the larger ones on calipers can snap. Soaking ’em down with PB blaster is the safest route–and even then? It’s a crap shoot.
Which part of the knuckle is stuck? The ball joint, tie rod end….Ball joints and two hammers can normally pop that sucker out. Pickle Fork also works, but forget about trying to re-use the joint. (the fork normally tears up the grease boot)
I’d pull up a youtube video of a mechanic doing it that way–but my laptop (at work right now) does not have audio. I’d hate to post a video if the mechanic was shall we say…less then polite?
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Well, partially my fault for using my impact wrench on it (even with lowest torque setting) because they were both stuck…one came off with ease, the other snapped. Thankfully, wheel cylinders are only $15 here XD
The lower control arms, one came off easily but the ball joint wouldn’t budge, even with a pickle fork. The axle wouldn’t move where and how I needed it to, so the other control arm was inaccesible :/ why mitsubishi designed lower control arm studs to unbolt from the inside is beyond me…damn locally built imports.
Hate to break it to ya. Most are lousy like that. It’s always pointing towards the worst angle…Tight corners to work around….(trust me. VW’s just as weird as Mitsubishi and Hyundai…and **gasp** even my bronco II is a nightmare at times with rusted and stuck parts)
I’ve actually had better luck with nailing the side of the ball joint mount with a dead blow hammer. The impact jars everything apart.
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I’ve taken Eric’s tip of “hit what it goes through”, I tapped on the ball joint stud (to not damage it too much) and tried a pickle fork…all useless :/
and to thing I almost bought a 2006 Elantra….ha, no. As much trouble as I’ve had, I still love my little Eclipse
After wasting time trying to get the old wheel cylinder off, I can’t get to one of the bolts holding it on, and I can’t get the brake line off, regardless of how much PB Blaster I spray on there…I don’t have a line wrench, so that’s hard enough as it is…I’m considering trying to use an “easy out” (I don’t remember what they’re called; drill bit that threads into a broken bolt and pulls it out) to get the old bleeder bolt out, hopefully without damaging the old cylinder, seeing as it’s as close as I’m going to get to replacing it…Well, another wasted day of “work” :/
Easy out snapped…I’m officially giving up -_- theres very little that I can do anymore….If I can get the funding, I’m gonna have it towed to the local stealership (because I don’t trust the local auto shop after they messed up on the mustang) and have them take care of it….I’ve lost my sanity trying to repair this hydra. I fix one issue, 2 more arise…
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