fitnessXJ

Hi guys after much hassle getting my old track bar out I was trying to put my new oem track bar in last night, but encountered a problem. The tierod end that mounts to the frame end of the track bar just keeps spinning in place and i cant thread it on.

I bought the track bar from partsgeek.com and its brand new I havnt touched it since I just took it out of the box yesterday. I tried to hand tighten the castle nut onto the tierod before I put it in and i could start threading it down only a few turns before it stopped and I couldnt thread it on by hand anymore. Im not sure if they sent me the wrong castle nut or maybe something got machined wrong.

So I put it up and tried tightening it and the whole thing just kept spinning. So I figured since its tapered I would apply pressure to it and hit it up into the bracket, still spun. So I then even took a jack and put it under the tierod and and jacked it up using the weight of the jeep to keep the tierod in place, I was able to tighten it down a little bit but wouldnt even budge past the top part of the hole where the cotter pin goes before it started spinning again.

Does it sound like I got shipped a faulty piece or castle nut, or am I doing something wrong.



It almost looks like the bottom threads are bigger than the castle nut. the top half that looks smaller was about where I could torque it down to then just spun after that point.

xjsnake

Could just be the angle of the photo but that stud looks bent just a little bit about 5 threads from the end. That would cause what you are seeing.

fitnessXJ

I think it may just be the angle of the picture and might just be the cotter pin hole start on one side but the angle makes it so you cant see the exit hole, heres another picture from a different angle.

CCKen

That slotted nut should be 1/2-20. I just replaced mine as preventive maintenance because it was rusted in-place.

You're not tryng to put a metric nut on there are you?

jedijeb

The threads where you had the nut tightened now look rounded instead of sharp. Either the thread pitch is different or the nut is the wrong size. You may want to use a die to straighten out the threads then try a new nut to see if that is the problem.

stockli

It's because the taper of the tre is not fully seated. I usually put a little pressure on them with a jack to stop them from spinning. Once it starts to get tight the tre will be seated an wont spin any more.

Don't go ape **** on it, just a little pressure from a jack is enough. Chase the threads on the tre as well there could be a burr in there locking it up. It kinda looks that way in your pic. Also are you using a new c nut? Or reusing an old one?

fitnessXJ

I did use a jack and put pressure under it to try to seat the tapered part into the bracket, it started to thread but was really hard to turn it and after a few turns the TRE started spinning again even with the jack against it. The castle nut is brand new, as well as the track bar. I just opened it out of box as soon as I took the old track bar off.

CCKen: Where can I pick up a castle nut as I may just try to replace it, would an Ace hardware, Lowes, or Home Depot have these? Also I am not sure if its metric or not, I just know its the castle nut that came with the track bar. Does the grade matter and is the 1/2-20 already account for the nut thread size as well? Sorry if a silly question but im not up to speed on nut sizes.

CCKen

You want a "Slotted Nut", not a Castle Nut. Slotted nuts are low profile compared to castle nuts. The slots in a castle nut will be too high to get a cotter pin in the threaded end.

Mine took a 1/2" 20 TPI nut, 3/4" wrench. I have no idea what the size and thread pitch of the track bar tie rod end is that you bought.

I got my slotted nut at an Ace hardware that carries a large assortment of fasteners. Lowes and Home Depot didn't have them.

Take your existing nut to Lowes and screw it on the sample thread board they have hanging on the wall and see what that nut is.

Until you find a supply of slotted nuts, get a plain nut (1/2-20) from Lowes (etc.) and try it on your track bar and see if this is what you need.

This is what a slotted hex nut looks like.

http://www.bgmfg.com/hex_slotted_nut_dimensions.htm

CCKen

Fastenal has them but I've found that they are ********* to deal with.

http://www.fastenal.com/web/products...13!-1266547739

CCKen

fitnessXJ,

When you removed the old track bar, what wrench size did you use to remove the nut? Was it 3/4" or was it Metric?

fitnessXJ

CCKen: Ill head to Ace and see what they have there, unfortunately Im not positive what the size was when I took it off, I want to say it was either 18 or 19mm. The nut was soo stripped and rounded I wasnt sure, I ended up getting it off with a Grip Tite socket the one that bites into the bolt to take off. Im just going to take my track bar in with me to the store and hope I can find one since ill have the track with me.

fitnessXJ

I ended up using a die and chase tool on the TRE to find out they sent me the wrong castle nut. So per CCKen's suggestion I went to ACE Hardware to see if they had a 1/2-20 slotted which they didnt for some reason. So I took it to advanced auto parts and they had the nut there and also I needed a new grease boot which I picked up since the one they sent had a hole in it. New nut worked perfect mounted the bracket back up torqued the slotted nut down. But the grease nipple I had to use the die and chase tool on again... but eventually it got in. Track bar is now installed, although I am going to replace it with a double sheared eventually because Im pretty displeased with the track bar I was sent...but you get what you pay for. Thanks all for the help I greatly appreciate it. I love this forum and I hope they help out others as it has helped me.