Tie Rod End Question

[EddieC]

I disconnected a tie rod end from the steering knuckle and when reinstalling it the nut went in to a certain point drawing the end to the kuckle but then the bolt (stud ?) out of the end was turning with the nut. It snugged up a bit and then that happened.
Is there an engagement for the what I presume is a head of the bolt hidden inside the rubber cover or could the bolt be snapped in there?

 

[JoeBlobs]

The bolt in question is actually the "ball joint" inside the tie rod, if you will. If the end of the stud is smooth with no threads, you can get a vice grip on there to keep it from spinning while you tighten the nut with a wrench.

If you need to you can also use a c-clamp on the tie rod and knuckle to compress it, or jack the knuckle up as well.

 

[strutaeng]

You may need an alignment also if you removed that tie rod end?

Where you replacing steering or suspension components?

 

[OR VietVet]

I disconnected a tie rod end from the steering knuckle and when reinstalling it the nut went in to a certain point drawing the end to the kuckle but then the bolt (stud ?) out of the end was turning with the nut. It snugged up a bit and then that happened.
Is there an engagement for the what I presume is a head of the bolt hidden inside the rubber cover or could the bolt be snapped in there?

You likely scuffed the threads in that area, where the nut tightens to. You can disassemble and drop the tie rod threads out and look. You can clean the threads up with a correct thread file or a correct thread die. Or you can reinstall and because the bottom of that threaded area is tapered, where it bottoms out in the hole of the steering knuckle, you can use a floor jack and jack under the tie rod end, may need to remove and reinstall grease zerk so it does not get damaged, and when you jack it up tight, it will seize in there and hopefully allow for enough bind to override the thread scuff and the nut tightens on down. The nut will clean the threads as it goes down.