Can't leave well enough alone.....
When I separated the inner tie rod from the rack the other month rather than using a separator tool I backed off the crown nut, put it upside down, threaded it back on until it was flush with the tie rod bolt and whacked it with a hammer like I've done with the outer tie rod ends and the ball joints. For whatever reason this mangled the threads and when I went to tighten the nut it spun out on the threads.
Long story short me and a shop chased the threads and put a new crown nut on last month and it tightened up fine. Then on Saturday the klunking comes back, so I look underneath and the nut's simply gone and the cotter pin's sheared off. Had to use a washer and a nail to get it back home but oh man were we close to disaster!
For whatever magical reason, outer tie rod ends are still available for $13. Inner tie rod ends are not available from anyone. Since we cannot renew the remaining threads and a replacement is not available what would I do? Tap it to the next size? How would I machine that down?