When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My Maintenance work programme has been going reasonably well but had a bit of a set back a few days ago.
I have a problem with rear camber adjustment - specifically the minimum camber I can get when the arm is fully hard over is about -1.5 degrees. In and of itself this is not a major problem and is the same on both sides. I hope to repair the bruises to the adjustment bolt stop collar shortly but that is not the answer albeit it will help a bit.
My main suspect is the dog bone bushes, the driver side seemingly a bit more so and as I have spares decided to try and remove the driver side dog bone for inspection. This bolt is not particularly high torque at some 30 ft lbs and the problem is that a socket cannot get the nut because of clearance from the rear spring. I tried to get the nut with a 17mm open ended spanner but it rounded a bit as I did not notice the washer as fitted is tapered so reduces the direct line of sight. No problem I thought and picked up a 17mm offset ring spanner. To my horror that also rounded off the nut a bit more- bugger! Have not had such happen in years.
Have seen varying approaches as to how to deal with such such as wedging something into the spanner jaws. My sockets engage the face rather than the corners and I seem to remember having some spanners that had the same face arrangement in my UK stored toolkit.
Appreciate any suggestions as to how best to approach this problem- if all else fails will cut the nut off with a Dremel but suspect there are more avenues to explore first.
For rounded off nuts, I go with a nut splitter and a new nut.
If access isn't possible, then the other option is a needle punch and hammer - a few whacks perpendicular to the circumference (i.e towards the center of the threaded area) to make a dent for purchase, then shift to tangential angle and whack to get the nut turning anti-clockwise.
Thanks for the tips chaps. Generally, as our cars never see things like road salt here, there is little to no corrosion or issues with bolts sticking like this thus never had to deal with such.
The cone washer puzzles me - it has been installed "cone out" as it were whereas I might have expected the cone to be oriented inboard to cover/support compression of the bushing. Has it been installed the wrong way round or have I got the concept wrong?
Is there room to fit one of these over the nut and use the spanner on it?
Adam,
Something like that might just work- there is about an inch of clearance to the spring so no room for a conventional socket and with a driver on top of it as it were.
Presumably one needs a specific size socket for a specific nut size. No idea how effective these are- Irwin market them but not sure if those ones are wrench driven or socket driven..
Something like that might just work- there is about an inch of clearance to the spring so no room for a conventional socket and with a driver on top of it as it were.
Presumably one needs a specific size socket for a specific nut size. No idea how effective these are- Irwin market them but not sure if those ones are wrench driven or socket driven..
I take it you have good experience with such?
Rgds
Fred
Fred,
I have a set of these, and they work well - got me out of a lot of momentary jams. I would go with these before Hilton's nut splitter - that would be the solution if all else had failed, though will add one to my armamentarium if ever needed.
Craig
When I could, I'd give a little tap to get the socket to 'bite' the damaged nut well. If the size of the damaged nut is somewhere in between two sockets, I've went with the tighter fit with tapping to bite. It's really the 'bite' that matters. I too have had a 100 % success rate when I needed them.
BTW, I've even used them on round, stripped Allen heads too. Get a tight fit and good 'bite', and it worked too. The introitus of the socket is somewhat conical in its depth.
While you're waiting I'll chime in with a vote for these extractors. As MainePorsche noted, they work well on buggered Allen head screws, too. I've got both metric and SAE in an Irwin set, very useful.
I like learning new words. Are you a gynecologist?
As for the PO's issue, I'd like to advise against using excessive torque on this nut. The other end is just a bolt that sticks through the frame. There's a chance you could round-off the head or open up the cup it's in.
What to do? Penetrating oil, heat, splitter, turn it hard. Consider trying that again before grabbing that 3' wrench extender. A swazall is always satisfying but I'm not sure you can get a bolt in without lowering the cradle.
What to do? Penetrating oil, heat, splitter, turn it hard. Consider trying that again before grabbing that 3' wrench extender. A swazall is always satisfying but I'm not sure you can get a bolt in without lowering the cradle.
Glen,
The bolt cannot be replaced without dropping the cross member- was looking at it this afternoon.
I have been spraying it with penetrating oil last few days and had another go at it this afternoon with a spanner I forgot I had that grips the flats rather than the corners . It was biting hard but still no joy. That damm cone washer does not help. Just wondering whether I can drop the rear coil over to make room for a socket. Not sure there is enough clearance to even get an extractor on that nut- there seems to be about 1 inch of clearance between the spring and the nut and that is before one considers some headroom is needed to engage the extractor.
Even if I were to use a nut splitter the thing can only get partial engagement because of that cone washer so not sure that would even work.
12-14-2015, 04:04 PM
Rounded nut on rear dog bone
