Outer tie rod won’t come off inner

[Hondafreak2003]

I have a 1998 Honda Civic Ex coupe with 232,000 miles. My front left outer tie rod boot is torn and needs replacing. I was able to loosen the jam nut and separate the tie rod from the knuckle just fine. However, I cannot twist the outer tie rod off of the inner. I have tried for hours to get it off.

I’ve tried putting a wrench around the inner tie rod and wedging it against something solid and using another wrench around the outer and hammer off… wouldn’t budge because the inner tie rod kept spinning inside of the wrench. I even hammered on a smaller wrench and it still rounded the inner rod before the outer broke free.

I tried using a pair of vice grips instead of a wrench and it still wouldn’t keep hold of the inner.

Any tips for removing the outer tie rod? I’m so close to completing the job and am becoming very frustrated with this.

Thanks in advance!

Topic

[Its me]

Heat and these help…

Karl

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[Ryan Marvin]

liquid wrench or pb blaster and heat as mentioned. Typically when changing tie-rods, I’m of the opinion that if you are changing the outers on high mileage, you may as well go ahead and change the inners too since you are going to have to get alignment. Plus it may be easier to just get the inner out anyway with the outer.

Best Regards,
Ryan

[Author]

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