Ok I had to remove the Drag link from my SE today, took the cotter pins out and then the castle nuts. but when I tried to tighten up the castle nuts on the pitman arm the stud just spins, same on both sides of the car!

how are you sposed to tighten up the pitman arms to the drag link?

Here is a pic to show the location i'm talking about, this pic is taken from the passenger side behind the tire

 

I guess it would be a inner tie rod end, not a pittman arm!

 

anyone?

 

Clean the threads on both the tierod end and the castle nut. Did you hammer on the castle nut, or the threaded end of tie rod to remove? If the threads are good, you will need to tap the tierod into the link to get some bite on the tapered shaft. If you have an impact gun, you may be able to draw it down that way.

If the tierod ends spins too much in the socket, it may be an indication that the tierod is worn and in need of replacement.

 

Yep, just what Trochoid said. But if the end is loose enough to allow it to spin, then that may be a sign that it is worn out. Replacements are about 20 bucks from www.rockauto.com (I know because I just ordered one about an hour ago).

 

You may try squeezing the joint(like the castle nut is tightened up already) so the taper on the ball joint gets some friction on the female part in the center link.
I'll be the third to say get some new ones if you can, then do the squeeze trick.