RangeR BoB

Hi.

I have a 2000 C5 A6 front track avant. I am trying to replace the driver's side outer Tie Rod End. The 10 years of salty winter roads in Germany have led to the top cross bolt (item #3 in the tech tips instructions) being difficult to remove from the steering knuckle, meaning I can't remove the tie rod end. Any suggestions are welcome

Thanks,

Robert

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Air wrench. Or unscrew the nut a couple turns, cut the bolt at the slot, use the nut to pull 1/2 the bolt out. Use air wrench to turn the other end and extract it.

There are also induction heater coils that some shops have. Or use and air hammer to punch out the bolt after you've exhausted other home-shop ideas.

4Driver4

You have to drive it out. This is a special bolt without a traditional head.

I've always been able to unscrew the nut to the end and drive the bolt out with a hammer. The cut method is a good one too (love it for the big pinch bolt), but you will have to drive the head out with a punch.

RMsALFA

I just did this repair. The cross bolts refused to come out all the way. I simply put the nut back on and used the blunt ended tool in my air impact hammer. The came out slow and nice.

Of course, it mushroomed the end of the bolt BUT you should have known and ordered up new fasteners along with the tie rod ends

Your NEXT step will be cutting the old TRE off and using the weld-on method. If the pinch bolt didn't come off, there is no way the TRE is going to unscrew - sorry.

sam08861

If it's the top bolt & its spinning?.... When I did this, I put some pressure on the bottom of the TRE with a floor jack. This kept it from spinning & I was able to remove the nut off the top.

RangeR BoB

Thanks for the responses! Good stuff. I'll go by a shop that is better equipped and see if they can do it. As long as I am doing one, I might as well do both.

A6Gary

Try soaking it with PB Blaster. I did TRE replacement on my wife's '00 VW Passat (same as '00 A4) and had little problem removing the cross bolt after soaking it with PB Blaster (as well as all of the other bolts/nuts on the TREs).

Indecided

2nd the cutting and welding method. The car had the original TREs for about 10 years as well - no amount of wrenching helped. Gave in, bought a welder, learnt to weld, and got that done. An impact wrench would also help with removing it after it's been welded.

As for the pinch bolt - I bought a nail punch and hammered it out. Try to get a punch that's slightly smaller then the pinch bolt - in case the pinch bolt still won't come out, you can hammer it right through with the punch.

Kris Hansen

I've had good luck using an air hammer to drive it out...