Anti Roll Bar Bushing Bracket Bolt Snapped CLC203

[Kingofthehill]

Morning all

Per topic title.... I'm in a bit of a pickle with it. Picture attached. I've tried a can of freeze spray and mole grips. Also tried welding a nut on the end and undoing with a spanner. No joy, it won't budge. Any bright ideas here please?

If I can't do it, will need to take it to someone who can. In which case I am considering removing the ARB and drop links and driving it there. Any issues with this?

Both bracket bolts were very tight, only just got the other bolt out. Bit worried about removing the bolts on the other bracket in case those ones snap as well. Can anybody please tell me the part number for these bolts?

 

[Kingofthehill]

How do you all feel about this tool married to my 18V impact driver?.....

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[bertb1]

Hi had you tried putting some heat into the area ?


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[Kingofthehill]

Hi had you tried putting some heat into the area ?


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Hi. Only the heat created by welding. My blow torch is a cheap crap one with no control over size/accuracy of the flame. It's a tight spot under the car too.

 

[Oldspanners]

I had trouble taking the bolts out of my C class and had to be very careful using a lot of lubricant, found the usual ones not much use and used a mixture of old ATF and acetone let it soak in from the top and then ease it back and forward a little at a time. From memory they stick through the alloy quite a lot and rust and need a good cleaning before you start. Took about 30 minutes to get one out.
With your broken one I'd persevere with getting a nut welded solidly on and with the heat generated, a good soaking of lubricant just ease it back and forward slowly.

 

[Kingofthehill]

I had trouble taking the bolts out of my C class and had to be very careful using a lot of lubricant, found the usual ones not much use and used a mixture of old ATF and acetone let it soak in from the top and then ease it back and forward a little at a time. From memory they stick through the alloy quite a lot and rust and need a good cleaning before you start. Took about 30 minutes to get one out.
With your broken one I'd persevere with getting a nut welded solidly on and with the heat generated, a good soaking of lubricant just ease it back and forward slowly.

Thanks for that account, appreciated. From memory, there is some trim that conceals the back of the frame member. I haven't removed that and had a look yet. Going to go and crawl under the car again now and do some more persevering!

 

[Kingofthehill]

Well the advice given to carefully ease the bolts out with a bit of hokey cokey was good advice. The rest of the bolts came out relatively easy this way. Thanks for that.

Still stuck with this stuck screw/stud though. Managed to get some heat on it, no joy. Spent £25 on stud extractor set but the stub was too chewed up for them to get a good purchase on it (roller type that work in both directions).

Now removed sway bar and drop links. I think I will buy a different type of stud extractor, the type that bites into the screw, and try that. If that fails I suppose I am going to have to cut it flush and drill and tap (don't think it will be a problem, just need to move the track rod out of the way first to get access).

Any other bright ideas before I go down this road?

 

[Oldspanners]

Well the advice given to carefully ease the bolts out with a bit of hokey cokey was good advice. The rest of the bolts came out relatively easy this way. Thanks for that.

Still stuck with this stuck screw/stud though. Managed to get some heat on it, no joy. Spent £25 on stud extractor set but the stub was too chewed up for them to get a good purchase on it (roller type that work in both directions).

Now removed sway bar and drop links. I think I will buy a different type of stud extractor, the type that bites into the screw, and try that. If that fails I suppose I am going to have to cut it flush and drill and tap (don't think it will be a problem, just need to move the track rod out of the way first to get access).

Any other bright ideas before I go down this road?

Leave it to soak in a good penetrating oil the alloy corrodes into the steel and needs a lot of penetration. Leave a cloth soaked in oil on top of it overnight, clean off the bottom and weld the biggest nut possible on, this puts the heat where its needed and try to ease it out as soon as you can, it may take several attempts. Without heat and lubrication you have little chance.
Drilling straight though a steel bolt over that length takes a bit of doing (luck) when on your back and tapping it can lead to more problems.
BTW be careful to disconnect the electrics if you are welding.

 

[Kingofthehill]

Thanks. I've been hitting it with WD40 but there's no access from above and to access from the side I'd have to drill a hole in the frame member. Should I be using a different/better penetrating fluid? Will this wick upwards into the affected area?

I've had success with this type of drilling and tapping before by being careful with centre punch placement before drilling then gradually increasing the drill size. What are my options if it doesn't go well this time?

 

[bertb1]

I’d say it all depends on the strength of the bolt
If it 10.9 or Over you will struggle most drill bit will just go blunt
I’m not sure what strength they are on cars


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[Blobcat]

Thanks. I've been hitting it with WD40 but there's no access from above and to access from the side I'd have to drill a hole in the frame member. Should I be using a different/better penetrating fluid? Will this wick upwards into the affected area?

I've had success with this type of drilling and tapping before by being careful with centre punch placement before drilling then gradually increasing the drill size. What are my options if it doesn't go well this time?

I’d give Wurth rost off ice a go instead of WD40

I‘d also give it a “tighten“ before an undo if you can get a nut welded on it

 

[Kingofthehill]

I’d say it all depends on the strength of the bolt
If it 10.9 or Over you will struggle most drill bit will just go blunt
I’m not sure what strength they are on cars


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Good point. Pretty sure I saw this embossed on the bolts. I'll check that later.

 

[Kingofthehill]

I’d give Wurth rost off ice a go instead of WD40

I‘d also give it a “tighten“ before an undo if you can get a nut welded on it

Thanks for that, I just ordered a can.

 

[Oldspanners]

Thanks. I've been hitting it with WD40 but there's no access from above and to access from the side I'd have to drill a hole in the frame member. Should I be using a different/better penetrating fluid? Will this wick upwards into the affected area?

I've had success with this type of drilling and tapping before by being careful with centre punch placement before drilling then gradually increasing the drill size. What are my options if it doesn't go well this time?

With really tight bolts I've never had any success with WD especially in alloy. I found that mix of ATF and acetone well shaken up works well failing that ACF 50 worked for me.
If it can't be re-threaded I'd say the easiest is to drill through and get a nut on the other side of a longer bolt.

 

[Cole@MBS]

Trouble is with these, there’s nearly an inch of steel thread stuck in a Aluminium subframe!! I have spent many many hours trying to remove these broken studs, 9 times out of ten, it drill time!! What starts of as a simple roll bar change…………..

 

[Kingofthehill]

Trouble is with these, there’s nearly an inch of steel thread stuck in a Aluminium subframe!! I have spent many many hours trying to remove these broken studs, 9 times out of ten, it drill time!! What starts of as a simple roll bar change…………..

Yeah I noticed that. Why so much thread engagement?

Gonna have one more last ditch attempt at welding a nut onto the stud tomorrow then get the drill out.

 

[bertb1]

The welding a nut method should work
When you done this before did the weld break ?


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[Cole@MBS]

The welding a nut method should work
When you done this before did the weld break ?


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I’ve

The welding a nut method should work
When you done this before did the weld break ?


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i have spent hours welding nuts on, eventually you loose enough thread to weld on to, the thread is so deep into aluminium, it loses heat so quick, if it was steel into steel, it would be so much differen!!

 

[Kingofthehill]

The welding a nut method should work
When you done this before did the weld break ?


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Basically, not having much in the way of tools that are suitable for solving this kind of problem, I've tried to bodge it initially by using mole grips etc on the remaining stud. This obviously marred up the threads etc. The stud is M8. I have M8 and M10 nuts laying around. I cannot get the thread started to screw an M8 nut onto the stud before welding and it was a bit awkward to try to hold it in place to weld it. Resultant weld wasn't the best (welding upside down doesn't help) and yes the weld broke.

I tried it again with an M10 nut but this was a bit too big, ended up with the same problem, weld broke.

Tomorrow, I am going to drill out the centre of an M8 nut just right to press it onto the stud so it holds itself in place. I have removed some of the suspension parts from the surrounding area so now have a bit more room to manouvre the welding torch too. Tackling this as a job in its own right will make a difference to the quality of the output as well I'm sure. I'd had a tit full of crawling around on the floor by the time this ****** bolt snapped the first time around, by which time it was midnight, so in all honesty i can't say that I was in a very determined mood.

 

[bertb1]

What weld method are you using ?
Tig, mig , arc ?


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