seized track rods

[sbt]

hi all i have just been to have my cars wheels aligned but unfortunately they could not do it because the drivers side track rod that goes into the steering rack is seized as anyone had any expeirience in sorting this out any info would be appreciated

[towcestervag]

i tore the ligaments in my right shoulder trying to get one of these free once
4yrs to get right
spray threads with a decent penetrating oil (plus gas/rost off/innotec deblock) and leave to soak then try to undo if this doesnt work then you will have to use a gas torch

[Crasher]

Get out the hot spanner!

[sbt]

hi all i am starting to get a bit confused regarding what the guy at the alignment place said he said and i qoute the drivers side trackrod is seized at the end that goes in the steering rack but am i right in thinking where the track rod enters the steering rack its on a ball and socket setup and just goes up and down with the suspension and is not held rigid if so how can this seize i have changed many trackrod ends and once the trackrod ball joint is out of its location the shaft that it on just wobbles about freely do you think he is getting confused or is it me thats got it wrong

[Crasher]

No it doesn’t work like that, it adjusts where it goes into the rack and they are a right pain in the bottom for seizing up. If you heat them up, you melt the boot then you have to go through the sketch of trying to work out with VW which boot you need, they seem to be designed to confuse, with 4 cylinder cars having 5 cylinder only rack boots, all very stressful when you are just trying to do a simple tracking job.

[sbt]

thanks for the reply crasher i am still a bit confused the nut that holds the rod in the rack is torqued to 65nm so where is the opportunity to adjust this i always thought there was only one way to adjust these and that was at the balljoint end buy backing off the locking nut and turning the threaded rod

[Crasher]

It is the track rod inner joint that rotates inside the boot where you can’t see it.

[sbt]

ok i replaced my track rod ends today and as i thought there is no adjustment possible at the end that screws into the rack the only adjustments you can make is on the threaded bar that screws into the inner track rod this is for length the height of the tre pin that goes into the steering hub is also adjustable hence the elongated recess in the pin you do this by adjusting the 13mm bolt that sits on top the inners was never seized because when i removed the tre from the hub it moved freely and turned 360 degrees i think the alignment guy as been confused because of the rubber bush that sits in the tre he as seen movement here and presumed its free at the tre but its not what he as seen is the rubber bush twisting the jobs made difficult because you have to take the twist out of the bush before you can apply torque to the inner track rod nut any way every things freed up and i will get the alignment done monday