Tie rod end help

[bimmern00b]

Hello guys,

I bought some Lemfoerder tie rod ends to replace the originals, but where the originals had the 5mm Allen wrench hole, the new ones seem to just have a dimple in the center. Now my tie rod ends are on the car and I have no way to tighten them, unless the holes are just filled in with something. I was going to check that idea but I an out of daylight. Has anyone else installed these, and if so, how did you manage to tighten them?

[bimmern00b]

Anybody? (aka bump)

[spidertri]

Are there flats anywhere on the tie rod end?

Stick a jack under the tie rod balljoint and compress the tie rod into the kingpin and try and tighten it that way. It only needs 33 ft lb, that's not too much.

[bimmern00b]

Nope, no flats, which was why I found it particularly sucky that the OEM chose to make the change that they did. I was ready for the hex key setup but when even that wasn't there I looked for flats but none were to be had. Oh well, off to find a bottle jack I guess... Thanks for the input!

[Biolite]

Like spider said above, I've always just placed a jack underneath them and put some force on the tapered fitting to allow friction to hold the post in place and tighten the nut down.

[chrisbec]

1+ for jack. It works better than trying to hold the rod end with a kex key and tightening the nut with a wrench it at the same time. You just need enough pressure on the rod-end to keep it from rotating.