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of course its the last bolt....
falcor75 - 22/4/19 at 09:38 AM

I started stripping down the donor Sierra struts today. Had let all bolts soak in penetrant over night and wirebrushed any threads that stuck out to make sure they dont jam up. Right side went fine, all the parts came apart. Left side too, except for the bolt holding the shock to the upright. it sheared off at the first attempt to free it. Ohwell. up in the vice, centerpunch, nice new drillbit and start drilling out the remains. Here's where the real fun started.
The drillbit didnt exit in the center of the bolt. Somewhere about halfway it started wearing off so now I have half the bolt stuck in the upright.

Is there any chance of fixing this or should I just look for a new upright? They are getting kinda hard to find here in Sweden.

Mr Whippy - 22/4/19 at 02:18 PM

If it was me I'd put the hub bearing in water to protect the bearing and get a torch on the broken thread and get it nice and red hot, once cool a god soaking with WD40 etc. You should then find that the bolt thread will turn easily as the rust will have boiled off. Those who deal with old cars know that heat is always your best bet when dealing with stuck bolts.

Leave the part to cool naturally, don't dump it in water or you will make the part brittle.

Oh and I assume you have removed the strut cos if you heat that it will explode throwing boiling hot oil over you and ruin your day...

Don't heat up ball joints either, they also explode




[Edited on 22/4/19 by Mr Whippy]

CosKev3 - 22/4/19 at 08:45 PM

Try welding a nut onto the end

gremlin1234 - 22/4/19 at 09:21 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
once cool a god soaking with...

in Sweden you may chose thor, (and just hit it with a hammer - again)_
all gods may vary

Mr Whippy - 23/4/19 at 06:02 AM

quote:
Originally posted by gremlin1234
quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
once cool a god soaking with...

in Sweden you may chose thor, (and just hit it with a hammer - again)_
all gods may vary


may take that as well

falcor75 - 24/4/19 at 06:11 PM

Well I got the remains of the bolt out but theres of course a bit of damage to the threads on one side in the upright. Either I'll have to weld it up and have it remachined or go for a larger diameter bolt or a thru bolts with a nut at the opposite end.

JMW - 24/4/19 at 06:31 PM

Is helicoiling it back to standard an option?

Mr Whippy - 25/4/19 at 06:11 AM

Well done getting it out

I'd go for the larger bolt size, maybe using a capscrew instead of a bolt so the head is still much the same size.

rusty nuts - 25/4/19 at 07:59 AM

Use a longer bolt with a nylok nut.