Tie rod jam nut rusted solid and won't turn
Rust often fuses the jam nut so tightly to the tie rod end that it looks like a single piece of metal. This makes it impossible to loosen the alignment adjustment without damaging the threads or the rod itself.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Using a torch to apply heat to the rusted areaDid this help you?
- 2using a good jack and wrenchDid this help you?
- 3Using vice gripsDid this help you?
- 4Hammering on vice gripsDid this help you?
- 5Applying heatDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Gonna swap out my tie/track rod end, I initially thought the end was the jam nut but it's either badly rusted to the end, or it's part of the tie rod end...”source ↗
“We have tried a vice grip, hammering on said vice grip and heating it but it just wont move.”source ↗
“those lug nuts can be stubborn. I learned that the hard way during my last tire change.”source ↗
Where this came up
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