Spent 2 hours last night replacing the pass track rod end, did it by the Haynes manual ie backing the lock nut off a 1/4 of a turn etc which was a major battle in itself. And the track rod end needed heating up aswell, spilt the CV boot at the same time which I only replaced in December ffs :'(

Went to get it tracked today and even after some major heat they couldn't budge the lock nuts much at all and the tracking's way out on both sides which I suspected due to the tyre wear. Mechanic said that I'll probably need new track rods due to them being seized.

Is it just a case of taking the ball joints out and winding them off the steering rack counting the number of turns or is it more difficult?

quote for the parts came to £50 which is for 2 track rods and a drivers side track rod end(might aswell change that at the same time). Does that seem ok?

Also which ball joint splitter is best for the octy?

If its the inner track rods your taking about replacing then they usually screw into end of rack, nice set of stilsons usually comes in useful for getting them undone,

not actually a bad job to do well on volvos its not anyway don't know about vag cars

just read the manual and it mentions nuts and ball joints on the rack end of the track rod? Thought the rods just screw in? Anyone done the rods before with some advice?

looking at my parts catalogue they literally just screw into the rack

They do screw into the rack, normally you would undo the track rods from the hub, undo the boot and then remove from rack

Genuine new tie rods come with new ends.

just read the manual and it mentions nuts and ball joints on the rack end of the track rod? Thought the rods just screw in? Anyone done the rods before with some advice?

Simple job really . do not need a ball joint splitter if you are replacing the rod ends.

If you are replacing rod ends then you can remove track rod and end in one piece.

First undo the rod end ball joint bolt leaving it on end and get hammer and whack the nut. This will break the seal between balljoint and hub. Then just undo nut and remove balljoint.

Then pull steering gater out the way of rack and you will see a flat surface on the track rod. Just undo the track rod as it screws into the rack, and remove. That is it. Hardest part is getting to enough visibility to the rack.

Refit new parts and gaters. Apply copper grease to the track rod end and track rod to avoid nut seizing in future

I think from memory, you need to expose 9 threads of the track rod as a std setting for tracking,

If its just the tracking nuts that are seized then you could take the rod ends off and put it in a vice and apply heat and then try and undo it before replacing inner rod ends

If its just the tracking nuts that are seized then you could take the rod ends off and put it in a vice and apply heat and then try and undo it before replacing inner rod ends

They are totally seized, the mechanic that tried unseizing them almost melted them with the heat and they still didn't budge. Got all the parts now so gonna do it in the morning