help! 97 breeze advice...?

[craigandlynda]

altho i have had years of fun working onthe classic mopars, i need help working on my daughters late model plymouth...1997 breeze...130 k...time to replace the outer tie rod ends and the left front wheel bearing setup...i have found that the bearing is integral with the hub, and need to replace the whole thing- not cheap, either..(whatever happened to the days of $5 wheel bearings?). anyway, i haven't been into one of these new fangled front ends before...do the tie rod ends just unscrew? do i need a pickle fork? any tips? and this wheel bearing/hub business...how simple is it? or, should i say, how hard? also, the plastic radiator has a leak...can these plastic radiators be patched? or am i stuck buying a new one? HELP!

[The70RT]

I haven't got into any bearings where the whole spindle has to be replaced. Some have to be pressed in and out. Tie rod ends should just unscrew. You will have to remove the rubber boot (inner) and loosin a nut before unscrewing the tie rod on either end., then use a pickle fork. I have heard on the plastic radiators where you can recrimp the edges where the seals are but that is a short term fix, I would just replace it. If you had a hole knocked in the tank maybe that could be patched with J B weld or fiberglass.

[gtx6970]

Outer tie rods use a one time use nylock nut - replace these .
Outer tie rod ends just unscrew off the inners, IF you happen to  need inner tie rod ends( not likely though) , You'll need a rack+pinion

Wheel bearing / hub assys unbolt from the back side

afaik - Radiator is not repairable

[craigandlynda]

thanks for the info....i got the hub changed, found that it is held on by 3 bolts from backside...and top bolt has to come off last, because hub needs to dangle outwards so you can get socket on top bolthead from backside...tie rod end is really tight at rack end..popped right off spindle, no problem, but sunday's chore is to unscrew the darned thing...it is really tight..soaking overnight w PB blaster, may need a heat wrench ...last resort will be the grinder...grrrr
found a plastic radiator repair kit...will tackle that a lil later

[gtx6970]

just make sure you loosen the jam nut for the tie rod ends before attempting removal

[craigandlynda]

wish i had know about the jam nut....when i looked at the setup, i thought the jamnut was atually just a formed end of the tie rod end...i couldn't get anything to budge, even with PB blaster and plenty of leverage...i ended up carefully using a grinder to grind away the old tie rod end, without harming the threads...then i realized there was a jam nut! i replaced the nut, and on the other side, i loosened it first...butthat tie rod end also had to be ground off. Anyway, job done. thanx for the help.