question for sierra-based Sumo owners re taper drill

[interestedparty]

Can anyone tell me if it is necessary to redrill the steering arms so that the track rod ends can be fitted from the other side? If it is, would you know what size and taper of drill or reamer is needed.
TIA

John

[Kelvin]

Hi john,

Aparently a 7 deg taper drill will do the jobbie, or as the book says use an old track rod end. When i did mine i cut the flat bit off the rod end and popped the chrome bit out. This is much easier with a grinder. Flatten the round end and then cut across to make a screw head. then place a screw driver bit in your drill and put some grinding paste where the track rod end goes in upside down and turn away. Mine took about 10 secs per side to get the rod end through. Be carefull not to go too far as it will be a whole new hub.

HTH

Kelvin

[breskit]

I did something similar but used the track rod end directly into the drill. Used the grinder to triangulate the end of the track rod so that the drill chuck would grab it. Add some grinding paste and off you go.

Like Kelvin says, go careful or you may go too far and need new hubs. Do a little at a time and measure how far through the new track rod goes. It should go through far enough so that you can get the nyloc nut onto the other end, with sufficient thread through th e nut (as we've seen here recently).

Cheers,
Tony B
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http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tony.breski

Jhon,
One option would be to nip down to Pilgrim and ask them nicely to either drill it for you or borrow their drill while your there. It only takes about 1/2 hour.


Adrian

[breskit]

John,

You live near Swindon, right? If you like I'll take a look through the stuff I have to see if I still have the old track rod end I used for mine. If you like I can send it on to you.

Regards,
Tony B

[MR JONES]

I dont know how you all did it with grinding paste, when I tried, it cut grooves around the track rod and made a right mess. I had a local engineering firm make a 7 degree cutting tool as a one off and cut them out for me. I tried everywhere to buy/hire a 7 degree taper, no luck

[breskit]

I found the bit I used in my garage the other day if you anyone still needs one.

Cheers,
Tony B

[interestedparty]

Thanks for the offer, Tony, actually I was asking on behalf of someone else who I understand has put your advice in to effect. It seems, reading through the various posts, that for most people using a scrap part with grinding paste seems to work ok, could be that it depends on how hard the surface of the part is. Useful principle, and one I may use myself in the future.

John