frozen/rusted inner & outer tie rods

[dlb]

giving my friend's t4 a tune up and noticed the alignment was slightly out. tried to realign it but the inner and outer tie rods are stuck where they thread together. i tried lots of pb blaster, gently hammering the area, heating it up with a propane torch, and a lot of elbow grease but it just looks like the flats on the inner tie rod are going to wear out before it budges. i've currently resorted to long-term multiple doses of pb blaster over the next few days and will continue with the heating and tapping before i put a wrench on it again but i wanted to see if anyone had any bright ideas for a different approach.

also, i noticed one inner tie rod (the other side, which is not frozen) has 14 mm flats on it, but the frozen side has 13 mm flats. i assume that different aftermarket manufacturers must have cut back on the size to cut costs but also wanted to see if anyone else had came across this.

thanks.

[marlinh]

Oxy-acetlyene is the only option in some instances. Propane heat sometimes isn't enough. Propane/oxygen should do it. Aftermarket parts sometimes come in different sizes.