Lock nuts on ties rods siezed - solutions?

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

Is one side reverse-thread? If not I think a nut splitter may be the safest option. 

Curious - does right or left hand thread matter? The type I’m thinking bout wouldn’t. Maybe a bit harder to find a left hand thread nut afterwards?

03Panther said:

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

Is one side reverse-thread? If not I think a nut splitter may be the safest option. 

Curious - does right or left hand thread matter? The type I’m thinking bout wouldn’t. Maybe a bit harder to find a left hand thread nut afterwards?

Yeah I was just thinking about the availability of finding the correct LH threaded nut if the tie rod it's self was NLA. 

I always feel like I'm going to be accused of blasphemy for this but..........maybe take it to an alignment shop. They deal with this type of issue daily, they will have the nut freed up in no time, and the alignment will be done and done correctly when you get it back, and at least in my area it's about $100. I know that doesn't fit the conventional thinking around here, but I was a tech for ten years and sometimes it's just the right way to go. 

In reply to gearheadmb :

I have no problem going to an alignment shop when necessary (I took my 128i a couple years ago), but assuming I can get these two nuts loose I don't think it is in this case. This is a cheap ongoing project car that just wants a little toe tweak, and I've got toe plates to do it. Hell, it's cheaper (though not easier) to just replace both inner tie rods.

In response to the questions above, I think both nuts are RH thread, but I'll have to confirm that when I'm in there. The Moog inner tie rods look to come with new nuts, so if need be I can replace them. Stay tuned.

It won't be left hand thread.

Streetwiseguy said:

It won't be left hand thread.

Good to know. Is that a common thing on Saabs, or is there a general rule to know what to expect based on marque?

The inner and outer tie rods you find on rack and pinion setups are regular right hand thread. I've never run into one that was reverse thread. Reverse thread is always present on one side of an adjuster sleeve which you would generally only have if you have a steering gearbox instead of a rack. 

In reply to Vigo (Forum Supporter) :

Hmm...I remember one of my previous cars was reverse thread on one side, but that's been ~15 years ago & I don't have a clue which one it was. 

So I finally had both time and inclination to tackle this. After trying several things mentioned here without success (couldn't quite get the hang of the two hammer trick, and MAPP gas wasn't enough to get the nuts red hot), I decided to just pull off the tie rod ends and blast the nuts off with a big impact, which worked fine. Fiddled with the adjustment for a while and got the toe right where I wanted it, but of course now the steering wheel is crooked. I'm done fighting with it for today.

I also grabbed a spare inner tie rod just in case I needed it, but once I cleaned up the threads the existing parts are fine.

I like to grab  Locknut on tie rods seized,  I needed it!

If the toe angle is correct but the steering wheel is off, that's pretty easy (but can still be tedious) to fix. When you adjust both sides by the same amount in the same direction, you don't change the toe angle but you do basically move the steering wheel in relation to the actual wheels. So to center a steering wheel on something that already has a decent toe angle without having an alignment rack, you just move both sides by the same amount and drive it and repeat over and over until you've homed in on good enough.