Anyone attempted this task?

ie. replacement of the drivers side tie rod (the rod itself, not the ball joint on the end) on V6 TS.

Mine has developed 2mm of play in the ball joint under the rubber bellows.

Bought new one from Repco ($41) but I would like tips before I start.

:doubt:

I was thinking the P/S rack and pinion unit had to be totally pulled apart

I have 2 racks to pull apart and fix myself

found this link ?? not a magna but an idea
http://www.clarks-garage.com/pdf-manual/steer-03.pdf

the ball joint simply screws onto the shaft.

use pliers to remove the split pin in the nut, undo the nut using a 19mm spanner, don't take it off all the way. get a hammer and hit the part of the hub that the ball joint goes through (you may have to hit it rather hard and quite a few times) then knock the nut (about as much force as it would take to crush a coke can) in the downward direction and the ball joint should become loose. Once this is done use the correct size spanners (i forget which size) to undo the locking nut from the ball joint on the rod. as you undo it count the number of turns that it takes before it comes off as you will need to count the number of turns to put the new ball joint on.Screw the new ball joint into place counting the turns, then redo the locking nut back up on the rod, bolt it back into the hub and put the split pin back in place.

hint: use plenty of WD40/CRC or what ever else is available. if the ball joint is a bit hard to get out of the hub then you may hit it a bit harder than i have specified as it is being replaced. Also get a wheel alignment asap.

Ok to unscrew the tie rod from the rack you will need a big set of multigrips. Follow the steps above to get the ball joint off, then you need to get the rack boot off. Then its just a case of using the multigrips on the tie rod and unscrewing it. They can be really tight to get out and often tightish all the way out.