As some of you have read, i'm doing a small overhaul on my 86 turbo. One of the undertakings is a new high friction clutch (did a bit of engine work, clutch died soon thereafter... thats what bigger turbos do i guess).

I got the exhaust off fine, disconnected the linkage, and the front bolt on the driveshaft in the torque tube. However, the rear bolt is STUCK. Tried everything, pry bar 2 yards long (handle from a shop jack), which resulted in a ruinned spline bit. Tried the wonderful sockets that cut into the bolt head, ended up shredding half the head. Next step is to take off the head to remove tension, countersink a bit into it, and remove it that way. My mechanic is planning on an air hammer assault in order to remove the bolt head, will that mess up the driveshaft? Should we use a dremmel instead?

Moreover, has anyone encountered this problem before? Will taking the head off the bolt really reduce stress enough to tap it out? We think the last person to touch it had to overtighten it like hell with an air tool, or some sort of voodoo.

Any insight would help, thx.

 

edit, oh on the TT coupleer?

 

yep, the bolt at the back, right in front of the transaxle. evil bolt!!!!

 

I'm trying to think of the bolt even when loose prevents the coupler from sliding back on the shaft. If not, you can just drill the head off, slide the coupler back, remove the transaxle, remove the coupler and put in a new bolt (or coupler if it comes to that). For some reason i am remembering having to remove the bolts completely to slide the coupler back.

 

*Sigh* what an unwelcome complication - though it could be worse. i gotta get my baby back on the road, there are evil men in BMWs who must be smitten, and curves to be hugged. Time for beer, i'm too bloody and tired to take anything else off tonight.

 

I had the same problem. The PO must have had some hack do a clutch years ago and as it turns out, the rear most bolt on the sleeve was galled into the splines of the transmission input shaft and the bolt would simply not come out no matter what I tried. I ended up removing the transmission and torque tube as a unit so I could separate them on the ground. Getting the bolt out required me to drill out the bolt in increasing steps until it was free to turn. The head of the bolt broke off with one of those sockets that grip into the head. This was the most frustrating part of my rebuild. Just make sure you line up the indents on the splines with the bolts when you put it back together. Good Luck!

 

It's never easy is it? Even the easiest projects can wind up being a major pain in the ...I wonder if you could get the tip of a welder up there to weld a nut onto the head and try turning it off with a socket?