I ordered a rebuilt steering rack for my 245. Is there a trick to get the tie rod ends disconnected other than buying volvos special tool. I have seen the ends disconnected with a hammer it works but it is not pretty. Any Ideas

dale

Thanks for the quick responses. The 2 pound hammers appears to be the winner on this one. Thanks for the heads up on spline allignment.

Dale

The rods and inner ends, yes. The outer ends, no.

GN 245 is asking about removing the outer ends of the existing rack.
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'80 DL 2 dr

I used a 3 jaw puller but a 2 jaw puller would work perfectly.

You can get a "pickle fork" for like $7.99 at an autoparts store, (or a good one for a bit more at Sears).
It's simply a wedge-shaped fork that forces the tie rod end out of it's hole in the spindle. Mine have never failed me. There can be some damage to the tie rod end rubber boot, but they're only $10 each anyway, and it'll last for years even if you do cut the rubber.
Couple whacks with a 2-lb hammer, and they'll pop right out. Now, I HAVE had very tough times removing the jam nut from the INNER tie rod end. One car I did I needed to cut the nuts off, they were rusted so badly to the tie rod shaft.
Also, if you're replacing inners, a small pipe wrench will be quite handy. And watch the locking washer at the inner end- it can be tough to straighten out properly- it's bent over to lock the tie rod from turning vs. the rack.
Good luck!
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 225K, 88 744GLE- 209K, 91 244 183K. Also responsible for the care and feeding of: 88 745GLE, 229K, 88 244GL, 146K, 87 244DL, 235K, 88 245DL, 236K

I have had good luck with the hammer method.I spray them with PB Blaster too.Since you will have new ends with the rebuilt rack anyway why not smack them out.
I support the part the end goes thru with jack and "pop" it off.
The tie rod ends were the easy part,I had a tough time getting the rack onto the shaft(by myself).
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philvo '86 245 215k,'90 240 196k,'87 SAAB 900 SPG 213k

If you support the attachment point with something like a jack the hammer method works well. Loosen the nut and unscrew it until the end of the threaded portion and the top of the nut make one plane. Support the assembly with a jack- the arm portion, not the rod end. Smack it with a hammer and it should drop right out. If you don't support the arm it flexes enough with the hammer strike to reduce the impact and can be difficult.

Randy

The hammer is the trick. Short of that you need a special tool of some kind. I have used an extractor for Volkswagen tie rod ends similar to the one pictured on the right.





It doesn't quite fit straight but it works. It also tends to mash down the grease boots but they pull back up with little or no effort. These are inexpensive and readily available.

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'80 DL 2 dr

The only difficulty I had was getting the steering shaft back on the splined input to the rack. I fixed the rack on first, then found I couldn't make the column shaft slide far enough back up its splines to let me put the lower end on. I had to remove the rack again and engage the splines first or at the same time.

If you are separating the ball joints using a wedge and hammer, it's more effective to hit in line with the drag link - it gives more effective resistance to work against.