tie rod connection

[bmohan55]

After rebuilding my swivel balls I tried to reconnect the tie rod but after threading the nut a few turns the bolt starts to spin along with it. The boot is in good shape so I am reluctant to lock it down with vise grips. Is this an indication that the tie rods ends are shot? The manual talks of a special tool but that seems to be used for rebuilding them, this is my first foray into front end componants so I am quite lost. Thanks.
Bob

[SafeAirOne]

It just needs to seat enough to keep from spinning when you tighten the nut. Using an air or electric impact gun to tighten it will usually spin the nut faster than the rod end can spin. If you don't have one of these, sometimes you can push down on the rod end enough to get it to stop spinning while you tighten--have someone wiggle the steering wheel slightly while you push down on the rod end to fully bed it. If that doesn't work, you may try having someone put slight turning pressure on the steering wheel while you tighten the nut. This may be enough pressure to keep it from spinning.

[rbonnett]

I had the same problem with new ones when I re-did mine this year. I ended using a prybar against any convenient point on the chassis to put some pressure while I got the nuts snugged down. Once I got to that point there was enough friction for me to torque the nuts down.

[bmohan55]

Thanks for the suggestions, I guess it's just another thing that needs a bit more power than I was willing to give. I'll borrow an electric impact wrench from work here and give it a spin at lunch.