center link 63 cdv

[Kim K Kaiser]

About to embark on replacing hte center link.. the part comes in tomorow,, i got a pitman puller and a tie rod puller as suggested earlier..

i was reading th book on it, and I diidnt pick about the wheels... can i put the car on a ramp with the wheels stationary or do i need lift up the car and have the wheels hanging freely?

any other tips or tricks,,,,anyone who has read my adventures should know by now,, its take a part adn put back together 3 or 4 times,,,, so any tips would be appreciated,,or any thing else i will need besides the speicalized pullers...

thanks

[Kim K Kaiser]

i went and ordered the two inside tie rods,, and found they would be a week or so getting in,, seems a shortage,, at least that is what they said,, so in the mean time,, i thought, why not to a tap and die on the bolt and the nut,, so i bought a .5 inch 20, borrowed the nut cutter part, and spent an hour getting it lined up and FINALLY, it worked on and i got it cut all the way up the shaft and then the nut,,, seems to have worked out ok!! i got it all put back together, and decided to give it a whirl..it seems, at least the wander has been probably 75% feeling better, while the steering doesnt feel tight or in a bind, it does feel a little firmer, no un necessary tension, just like the whole thing is a bit tighter,, I'm guessing or hoping, that the alignment will fix the rest....im a bit in a quandary over the new inner tie rods. i guess i will take them, despite costing 250.00 and putting them on the car next week and being done with this,, couple new parts,,and the steering is set to new,, or at least, just keeping the tie rods for future, just in case parts,,,,

if any of my methods seem wrong or not in line with how things should be done that would affect safety, please let me know,,,,

SECONDLY, i was changing the grease gun, and it slipping and a log of grease cam out like a cow crapping on flat rock,, well, it got on my pants, shoes,, etc...what is the best thing yall know of for trying to get that out,,, or best to just let em head to the round file... stuff just gets everywhere..

anyway, thanks for the help, and thoughts for repairs and ways to avoid future stupidity when whacking nuts and bolts with sledge,,,

[Jason Edge]

You have to shop around on parts. $250 for just the inners is excessive. I see that some places like Rock Auto are currently out but see them available thru Kanter for $60 each, which would be 1/2 your price. Click Here for the link. Front end alignment is going to make the car track better, steer better, less likely to drift and wobble, but will not "tighten" anything up. If you have original tie rods and are trying to tighten the front end and steering up, I would return the $250 tie rods and shop around and get inners and outers. You should be able to get inners, outers and adjusting sleeves for that much! 

[Kim K Kaiser]

Ok.   Thanks for the heads up on price.   Since indidnt pay thru autozone, i will just hv them cancel the order,   

[Tony and Ginny 429]

Kim

I really enjoy your sense of adventure determination and gear head spirit 

Your reward will be driving down the road - with one finger - In your Classic Antique Cadillac show stopper— - Priceless   ( ok a little expensive ! ) 

There something enjoyable about driving these big heavy cars with one finger —as  you will see in the near future 

You have done some very  many serious repairs to your Cadillac and I have been along for the ride since day one 

Keep up the good work with some help from this great site 

Enjoy 

[Kim K Kaiser]

i just keep trying to plug along,, learn something along the way, (sometimes expensive error), but learning all the same,, thanks again for the help