legacy track rod help

today i went to change the gator on the nearside of my steering rack. i tried to disconnect the track rod from the tie rod but couldnt get it to budge. my understanding is the tie rod is the part with the ball joint under the gator that screws into the track rod that has the ball joint that fixes to the hub carrier and in between the two is a lock nut. i tried penetrator and vice grips along with the spanners but no joy. anyone have any ideas on how to separate these so i can slip off the old gator and put on the new one.
ive attached a link to a pic that shows what im on about
http://www.grapon.com/wrx/techdocs/howto/alignment/align_TieRod.jpg

They are very tight, but you don't remove it to replace the boot. Loosen the locknut for the track rod end. Then remove the track rod end from the hub. Screw off the track rod end from the tie rod, and then unscrew the locknut. Remove the boot, and replace it with the new one. reassemble in the opposite way that it was disassembled, making sure nothing is left loose. Get the tracking done afterwards,

John

thanks johnny , thats what i was trying to do, but couldnt get the lock nut off to unscrew the track rod. i marked where the track rod and lock nut are with tipex to avoid any misalignment afterwards but that lock not is causing me a bit of bother. thanks again for the reply

go the track rod off and was able to proceed with doin the boot, lump hammer and a vice grips sorted it in the end

Good man, sometimes you need to revert to that

John