During WCBF I had to replace a tie rod end. Luckily they had just one in stock in Portland. I did it the second day of the Meet in Bill's driveway rather quickly without the benefit of my torque specs or a grease gun.
When I returned home, today I installed the matching tie rod end on the other side and took my time this time.
Ya, I am a little ticked that I had to pay $60 including tax for this one whereas the Corvallis unit only cost $32 with no tax!
Darn near everything is half price down there compared to up here.....including fuel and BEER!!
There are advantages to driving 700 miles south for the Meet.
So now knowing the proper torque is 35 ft-lbs for the ball joint nut, I replaced the cotter pin and retorqued the Corvallis nut.
I got another notch in the cotter pin tighter.
That's a huge difference! The instructions were explicit to NEVER back off the nut in order to match the hole with the cotter nut. During the Corvallis install we had to loosen the nut a hair to line it up. This time even with the correct torque, I had to tighten it a hair to match up.Over time incorrect torque can fatigue and break the bolt.
Always torque your nuts.
