Rear ARB Bracket Bolt Sheared

[ukkid35]

Started to disassemble the rear suspension in order to use up my POR15 on the surrounding chassis, inevitably I met a couple of snags.

First the ARB bolt shears, I know this has happened to others, but what is the least painful fix?



Then the lower shock bolt bush seizes on the bolt. I guess I'm going to have to remove the head then try to knock it through.

[Alexdaredevils]

Clean it up weld a nut on it at a high heat setting, wait a minute for it to cool a little bit and fingers crossed it comes out with the heat, of not its drill time im afraid

[ukkid35]

Never welded anything unfortunately, and don't have any gear. Not sure there's that much room for a drill either...

With a nut welded isn't there a fair chance it will shear again?

[Alexdaredevils]

ukkid35 said:

With a nut welded isn't there a fair chance it will shear again?

There is im afraid, but the heat created by the welding might free it off,

[TimJM]

I know this pain having had exactly the same thing happen to me a few months back.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

You seem to have more thread out than I did so you may have some success with welding a bolt on but I would wager it is going to end up with a drill and tap as mine did.

The best advice I has was to drill at slow speeds, stop regularly and and use loads of cutting fluid. Drilling a small pilot hold and running each drill bit up in size to get to 6.8mm also worked well. You will need cobalt drills, the normal HSS don't make any progress on a HT bold.

Here is a list of things to buy (the things I used with success) unless you already have them:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000LFS1FU/ref=...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003UDBZP8/ref=...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000Y8QIKO/ref=...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-HSS-COBALT-JOBBER-DRIL...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000LFTTZQ/ref=...

If you are as lucky as I was you won't have to drill larger and then helicoil, make sure the centre punch mark is bang on centre (I marked mine first with a fine tipped marker pen to guarantee it was exact before using the centre punch). When drilling as you will have to use the right angle attachment go slow and make sure it is exactly horizontal at all times. You don't want the drill going off at an odd angle.

Good luck.

[pmessling]

Seeing as there is still enough thread left lots of WD then heat the area with a blow torch. Mole grips on the thread and gently loosen and tighten.

Once removed run a tap down the hole to clean it out. If you need a tap give me a bell Paul.

[gruffalo]

Easiest fix is to just remove the anti roll bar or cable tie it up out of the way, this is what I have done without any ill effects on handling.

[FarmyardPants]

pmessling said:

Seeing as there is still enough thread left lots of WD then heat the area with a blow torch. Mole grips on the thread and gently loosen and tighten.

Once removed run a tap down the hole to clean it out. If you need a tap give me a bell Paul.

You could heat the ARB and spray the bolt with something cold and use mole grips

[ridds]

The ARB bolts are pretty much shot and there is so little access you'll struggle to sort that with the body on.

One of mine sheared the head off when undoing it. The bolt trough the chassis was rusted pretty tight!

The lower bolt, very odd, did you use copper slip when it was assembled?

[ukkid35]

TimJM said:

I know this pain having had exactly the same thing happen to me a few months back.

Many thanks for the detailed reply, much appreciated. TBH I don't think my car's chassis deserves that attention to detail. If I can't remove it using heat and molegrips, I'm much more likely to drill right though and use a nut on the other side, unless someone can explain why that would be a bad idea.

[anonymous-user]

If you need a hand at any point Paul, like passing you tea or spanners whilst looking slightly knowledgeable...drop me a message.

[TimJM]

ukkid35 said:

Many thanks for the detailed reply, much appreciated. TBH I don't think my car's chassis deserves that attention to detail. If I can't remove it using heat and molegrips, I'm much more likely to drill right though and use a nut on the other side, unless someone can explain why that would be a bad idea.

That will work too. I think somebody on my thread may have said that is exactly what they did when faced with the same issue.

If you are going the drill route the right angle attachment I linked to works fine and you have plenty of room for access (I had the hub uprights off too). There are a few right angle attachments available but most are crap and will not be up to the job. The one I linked too had good reviews and I can confirm it is durable enough for this job and from it's weight and action seems to be metal based gears inside not cheap plastic like some of them.

You will need to cut the bolt flat and file it smooth before you start if you want to try and save the thread for accuracy. A Dremal with a metal cutting disc is handy as it is so small you can cut the bolt off virtually smooth against the mount in seconds without the need for hardly any filing to get it flat.

[TimJM]

Oh, and if you are removing the upright to give better access to the roll bar sheared bolt you will also have much better access to the other seized suspension bolt. I had several seized bolts and each one was solved in the same way, plusgas and long breaker bar.

The bolt you are talking about was also seized on mine but I found that using a good quality spanner on the nut wedged against the wishbone itself meant I could use all my weight on the end of the breaker bar with a good quality six sided socket on the bolt head side. It will turn given enough force.


This one in fact has helped me out of many an apparent seized bolt over the last 6 months rebuilding my car.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000O619PA/ref=pe_21719...

[ukkid35]

I have a plan. I'm going to file some flats on the stub, then try 'Wurth Rost Off Ice' and see if that does the trick.

[ukkid35]

TimJM said:

The bolt you are talking about was also seized on mine but I found that using a good quality spanner on the nut wedged against the wishbone itself meant I could use all my weight on the end of the breaker bar with a good quality six sided socket on the bolt head side. It will turn given enough force.

This one in fact has helped me out of many an apparent seized bolt over the last 6 months rebuilding my car.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000O619PA/ref=pe_21719...

Unfortunately the bolt is not seized, it's the brass bush that is seized on to the bolt, the bolt itself spins easily but I can't extract it.

I do have exactly that breaker bar, but it get it for that amazing price.

[Superjuiced]

Get this,

http://www.belzona.com/en/products/other/8311.aspx

On some sites we work at we can't or don't want to get hot works permits (creating sparks) because of gas present. Some of the bolts are so bad you'd think the only way of getting it off is with a slitting disc. This stuff is incredible and much better than any of the commercial stuff around, leave it on for 30 mins and it should do the trick.

[TimJM]

ukkid35 said:

Unfortunately the bolt is not seized, it's the brass bush that is seized on to the bolt, the bolt itself spins easily but I can't extract it.

I do have exactly that breaker bar, but it get it for that amazing price.

So is the nut off the other end totally?

If so, can you remove the upright? You may need to do that anyway for better access to drill out the ARB bolt and once that is out the way you will have plenty of room to tt the bolt with a lump hammer. I bet it will fly out of the brass housing with enough persuasion (I talk from experience).

[scotty_d]

pmessling said:

Seeing as there is still enough thread left lots of WD then heat the area with a blow torch. Mole grips on the thread and gently loosen and tighten.

Once removed run a tap down the hole to clean it out. If you need a tap give me a bell Paul.

This was my method when my ARB bolt sheered, bit of heat worked well, good quality mole grips as well.

[ukkid35]

Removed the head of the lower shock bolt hoping to be able to knock the bolt back through, but no luck. The brass bushes are holding the bolt in place and it won't budge.

[pmessling]

if you want to destroy the bushes i can make up a set for you at work if you want Paul.