Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

so i had decided to clean my trunions from decades of old grease with brake cleaner.

So i turn the steering wheel to get a better access and I noticed that steering rack gaiter was dead.

This is really annoying as i had the parallelism done one month ago....

Damned

I pump up some new grease in...

I meant in the trunions

Steve at the rescue!
Thanks man...

Can't help with the rubber boots (gaiters).
But ... grease in the trunnions? Heresy!!
Oil from a sperm whale, that's the thing for trunnions.

Trunnion inclination affects caster. Hmmm....
perhaps you should use castor oil in the trunnions???
Or castol grease? How did I get back to Greece?

Oil vs Grease? I thought I'd get ahead of the "discussion."

Here, in Nice, it is really hot... I think the grease will do just fine!

It seems to be really difficult to find a high pressure OIL gun. Whereas high pressure grease guns are common.

I find my ancient Wanner 315 works fine with both oil and grease, but my unbranded grease gun leaks if you use it with oil.
regards
Richard

Yep,certainly Nice is Nice in the summer,much better than discussing oil versus grease in the Trunions...

John

I don ?t succeed in unscrewing these tie rods ends...

Is there a trick?

You need two wrenches and have to back off the nut holding them in place. Count the number of turns when removing, so that when you go to put it back on, you don't change anything. Also, when you remove the nut on the bottom of the tie rod end, just take it most of the way off, then lightly tap with a hammer to release from steering arm. Dan

I removed that bottom nut and tried to hammer the screw upward... It just did not come loose...

Don't hammer on the screw, you'll wreck the threads. With the nut still on, you hit the nut, not the screw. That's odd that it won't come off as your tie rod ends don't look old. Can you can always spray some lubricant in there and apply heat via heat gun. Dan

Smart

Need to try that!

My brother loaned me one of these awhile back and it worked great with no beating involved. I just lined it up and half a turn later the parts were separated.

This is on FleaBay US, but I'm sure they're available just about anywhere.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/28mm-Audi-VW-Ba ... 75&vxp=mtr

Ed China (Wheeler dealers) always get them to separate using a two hammer method. Personally I have a selection of ball joint separators and pulls. Haven't failed me yet, even with some pretty nasty joints on my daily driver.