Can't loosen tie rod on Tesla to center the steering wheel

[tcp71]

If you can pop the ball joint out, and one of the nuts is loose, you can adjust the length by rotating the inner (booted) rod that attaches to the steering rack and then reinstalling the ball joint. Had to do that recently.

 

[atikovi]

Used an induction heater coil around the outer tie rod to heat it up and stuck a shim in the butterfly socket to take up the loose fit. Got it turning now. The other side was no drama.

 

[GMBoy]

Will an 11/16 fit better? Its a close equivalent to 17mm.

 

[bunnspecial]

Will an 11/16 fit better? Its a close equivalent to 17mm.

11/16 is ~17.46mm-not a bad choice probably for a rounded off 18mm or a chewed up/swollen 17mm, but not a great choice if a 17mm is already loose.

As I mentioned, 21/32 is a decent choice for where 17mm is loose and 16mm won’t fit. It’s ~16.6mm. Of course I’d guess too that’s not a size most people have in their tool boxes-I certainly don’t. I think the largest 32-sized wrench I have is 11/32. Still, though, it is available.

I looked to see if there was a Whitworth size-mine probably get more use as in-between sizes than they do on actual Whitworth bolts. No luck there, though-3/8W is 18.04mm and 5/16W is 15.24mm

 

[meep]

Used an induction heater coil around the outer tie rod to heat it up and stuck a shim in the butterfly socket to take up the loose fit. Got it turning now. The other side was no drama.

View attachment 221020

That is genius @atikovi

 

[eljefino]

If you can pop the ball joint out, and one of the nuts is loose, you can adjust the length by rotating the inner (booted) rod that attaches to the steering rack and then reinstalling the ball joint. Had to do that recently.

This works on parallelogram steering with a middle adjuster sleeve but often not with an inner TRE that ends in a ball & socket.

 

[atikovi]

The goal was to straighten this out and eliminate a light pull to one side,

Took four tries of adjust and test drive before I got it dead center. Tesla service said something like $270 for an alignment, and one repair shop was over $400. No thanks.

 

[eljefino]

You can't fix a pull only by messing with toe. Did you do some camber or caster while you were in there?

 

[atikovi]

No just toe.

 

[eljefino]

So I went to a tire store for a state inspection and without my asking they gave me a "free alignment check." I was slightly out but they gave me the printout. I figured out my thread pitch, did some trigonometry... you know the rest.