Fiesta wishbone pinch bolt stuck fast
Discussion
Hallelujah! It's out! All thanks to a bit of luck and (someone else's) skill...
I decided to pop out for another dose of PlusGas and threw in a few more hammer blows. At hearing the hammering the guy over the road came over for a chat and revealed that his Dad - who only happens to be a truck mechanic - is coming over shortly and he could bring him over if I wanted.
So, neighbour's Dad arrives and announced 'I'll get that out, no probs' and proceeded to hammer my 12mm impact socket on to the rounded-13mm bolt head whilst simultaneously warning me that it might be 12-and-a-bit-mm by the time he's finished. He then pulled a breaker bar out of his car that was so long we had to move the neighbours car out of the way for him to use it. Following a bit of grunting and a strained 'Ooh she's tight' announcement out came the words 'There she goes' and I could see some slight rotation. He to'd and fro'd with it, bit more PlusGas, and a few Thor-like hammer blows later it was out! He then said he'll get the ball joint out too whilst he's there as it might be awkward, so with few more hammer blows and a chisel it too was free.
As Matt_E_Mulsion said, it was indeed the shank that seemed to be the issue and so my focus with the PlusGas on the head was seemingly misplaced, although I did do the shank quite a bit too. I suppose with the open-clamp of the knuckle it's the shank that gets the exposure so it stands to reason it'd suffer the most.
Thanks again everyone for the input. It'll all be useful next time I'm in a pickle, which no doubt will be tomorrow when I need to get the two wishbone bolts out! I've always got the fallback plan of catching the neighbour's eye again and asking how his Dad is.
I decided to pop out for another dose of PlusGas and threw in a few more hammer blows. At hearing the hammering the guy over the road came over for a chat and revealed that his Dad - who only happens to be a truck mechanic - is coming over shortly and he could bring him over if I wanted.
So, neighbour's Dad arrives and announced 'I'll get that out, no probs' and proceeded to hammer my 12mm impact socket on to the rounded-13mm bolt head whilst simultaneously warning me that it might be 12-and-a-bit-mm by the time he's finished. He then pulled a breaker bar out of his car that was so long we had to move the neighbours car out of the way for him to use it. Following a bit of grunting and a strained 'Ooh she's tight' announcement out came the words 'There she goes' and I could see some slight rotation. He to'd and fro'd with it, bit more PlusGas, and a few Thor-like hammer blows later it was out! He then said he'll get the ball joint out too whilst he's there as it might be awkward, so with few more hammer blows and a chisel it too was free.
As Matt_E_Mulsion said, it was indeed the shank that seemed to be the issue and so my focus with the PlusGas on the head was seemingly misplaced, although I did do the shank quite a bit too. I suppose with the open-clamp of the knuckle it's the shank that gets the exposure so it stands to reason it'd suffer the most.
Thanks again everyone for the input. It'll all be useful next time I'm in a pickle, which no doubt will be tomorrow when I need to get the two wishbone bolts out! I've always got the fallback plan of catching the neighbour's eye again and asking how his Dad is.
Edited by MJNewton on Saturday 17th September 20:44
I had a similar experience with my Mk1 Focus - I kept whacking the pinch bolt with a hammer but it wouldn't budge (nut came off easily). I plusgassed it every hour all evening and a couple of times the next morning. Gave it a few blows with my hammer and it moved almost immediately, took me a couple of minutes to fully remove. If you've got the time, keep soaking in plusgas before moving on to more aggressive solutions, it amazed me how effective it is
That's good to know - thanks - and I'd read similar from others about the value of time when it comes to penetrating oil. The thing is, when I'm in the thick of it my patience seems to drop to zero. I guess I'm in panic mode and so feel the urge for instant action. I'll try and remember for next time though.
Edited by MJNewton on Saturday 17th September 20:57
I'd seemingly been punished enough yesterday as I'm pleased to report that the remaining bolts - and the wishbone itself - came out without any drama and the new one is now in.
Thanks everyone for all the input and discussion; it was really appreciated.
Thanks everyone for all the input and discussion; it was really appreciated.
Edited by MJNewton on Sunday 18th September 11:27
Congrats on that lucky escape.
One thing I’ve seen crop up is the mention of heating the bolt, but then no mention of allowing it to cool.
I’ve always found it more effective to go through a couple of cycles of heating and cooling of the bolt, followed by heating the surrounding metal quickly and then going for it with the removal.
Heating the surrounding metal will make it expand and hopefully slacken off the thread/bores hold on the bolt.
The heating and cooling helps crush the corrosion then create space in the threads, at least in my mind.
When smashing away with a hammer, it’s often good to have someone acting as ballast to hold things in place with a pry bar or heavy weight. The rubber compliance bushes in suspensions will sap a lot of the impact away so you end up just making noise and getting tired.
Hopefully the other side is easier if it needs doing. Maybe start spraying it with plusgas now, just in case.
One thing I’ve seen crop up is the mention of heating the bolt, but then no mention of allowing it to cool.
I’ve always found it more effective to go through a couple of cycles of heating and cooling of the bolt, followed by heating the surrounding metal quickly and then going for it with the removal.
Heating the surrounding metal will make it expand and hopefully slacken off the thread/bores hold on the bolt.
The heating and cooling helps crush the corrosion then create space in the threads, at least in my mind.
When smashing away with a hammer, it’s often good to have someone acting as ballast to hold things in place with a pry bar or heavy weight. The rubber compliance bushes in suspensions will sap a lot of the impact away so you end up just making noise and getting tired.
Hopefully the other side is easier if it needs doing. Maybe start spraying it with plusgas now, just in case.
Update 18 months on:
The wishbone on the other side now needed replacing (ball joint play again) and so I thought I'd add my approach to this thread for the sake of the archive.
This time round I knew it was the corrosion on the shank of the pinch bolt that was the issue and that getting some rotational movement into it was key. No amount of hammer blows were going to cut it, not least given the play in the suspension that some of you had warned me about.
So, I gave my impact gun a try and all I was getting was a rounding of the bolt head. This wasn't from slipping off like I'd assumed with the other side - just the softness of the bolt metal not being able to cope with the less-than-perfect socket fitting. So I hammered on an undersized socket and following further applications of Plusgas and a few cycles of heat (being careful not to melt the CV joint boot - I really didn't want to have to disturb the non-reusable 255Nm hub nut to shift it out of the way) I was able to get a slight amount of rotational movement with the breaker bar. Not much but I could just about move it to and fro so I knew it was somewhat free at that point.
I then whipped out this 6kg bad boy:
It came as part of a £30 ball joint remover kit ( AimTools 450701) which I'd seen on the Torque Test Channel that other similarly-priced tools could deliver over 5 tonnes of clamping force before starting to deform.
I didn't take a photo of it in-situ but I basically wrapped it around the bolt, clamped it up and made use of the hole in the receiving end of the handle to apply some rotation to the bolt head with my breaker. Bit by bit it started to shift and after a few iterations of tightening the clamp, twisting the bolt, spraying a bit more Plusgas, rinse-and-repeat it came out.
Like before the bolt didn't look completely destroyed by corrosion but clearly what does build up is enough to seize things up good and proper. I copper greased the replacement, but hopefully it won't need doing again anyway.
The wishbone on the other side now needed replacing (ball joint play again) and so I thought I'd add my approach to this thread for the sake of the archive.
This time round I knew it was the corrosion on the shank of the pinch bolt that was the issue and that getting some rotational movement into it was key. No amount of hammer blows were going to cut it, not least given the play in the suspension that some of you had warned me about.
So, I gave my impact gun a try and all I was getting was a rounding of the bolt head. This wasn't from slipping off like I'd assumed with the other side - just the softness of the bolt metal not being able to cope with the less-than-perfect socket fitting. So I hammered on an undersized socket and following further applications of Plusgas and a few cycles of heat (being careful not to melt the CV joint boot - I really didn't want to have to disturb the non-reusable 255Nm hub nut to shift it out of the way) I was able to get a slight amount of rotational movement with the breaker bar. Not much but I could just about move it to and fro so I knew it was somewhat free at that point.
I then whipped out this 6kg bad boy:
It came as part of a £30 ball joint remover kit ( AimTools 450701) which I'd seen on the Torque Test Channel that other similarly-priced tools could deliver over 5 tonnes of clamping force before starting to deform.
I didn't take a photo of it in-situ but I basically wrapped it around the bolt, clamped it up and made use of the hole in the receiving end of the handle to apply some rotation to the bolt head with my breaker. Bit by bit it started to shift and after a few iterations of tightening the clamp, twisting the bolt, spraying a bit more Plusgas, rinse-and-repeat it came out.
Like before the bolt didn't look completely destroyed by corrosion but clearly what does build up is enough to seize things up good and proper. I copper greased the replacement, but hopefully it won't need doing again anyway.
Edited by tux850 on Saturday 22 June 15:32
Thanks for the update and good work!
Having read this thread I'm sweating a bit.. My 15 year old mx5 is on its original shocks and springs, and many of the OEM bushings are worn.
I've bought replacement shocks and springs and bushes and start work in July.
I have an impact gun, breaker bar, blowtorch and home made puller.
That beefy c clamp thing looks good
Having read this thread I'm sweating a bit.. My 15 year old mx5 is on its original shocks and springs, and many of the OEM bushings are worn.
I've bought replacement shocks and springs and bushes and start work in July.
I have an impact gun, breaker bar, blowtorch and home made puller.
That beefy c clamp thing looks good
Bainbridge said:
Thanks for the update and good work!
Having read this thread I'm sweating a bit.. My 15 year old mx5 is on its original shocks and springs, and many of the OEM bushings are worn.
I've bought replacement shocks and springs and bushes and start work in July.
I have an impact gun, breaker bar, blowtorch and home made puller.
That beefy c clamp thing looks good
Shuddering at the memories of rebushing my MX-5 of similar vintage, I wish you the best of luck Having read this thread I'm sweating a bit.. My 15 year old mx5 is on its original shocks and springs, and many of the OEM bushings are worn.
I've bought replacement shocks and springs and bushes and start work in July.
I have an impact gun, breaker bar, blowtorch and home made puller.
That beefy c clamp thing looks good
tux850 said:
Like before the bolt didn't look completely destroyed by corrosion but clearly what does build up is enough to seize things up good and proper. I copper greased the replacement, but hopefully it won't need doing again anyway.
Fingers crossed then. On our Mk6 ST150 I undo them every oil change to help with this issue.I'd also add that the wishbones don't always need replacing when the ball joints go wobbly - grind the rivets off the ball joint and they pop right out, then you can replace with new ones that bolt through the wishbone. Much cheaper and easier.
Krikkit said:
I'd also add that the wishbones don't always need replacing when the ball joints go wobbly - grind the rivets off the ball joint and they pop right out, then you can replace with new ones that bolt through the wishbone. Much cheaper and easier.
On these the ball joints are not riveted in place - just pressed in. However, the challenge here was the stuck pinch bolt which would've still remained an issue - the actual swapping of the wishbone was easy and I figured worthwhile anyway as given the age (11yrs) the bushes likely had limited life left in them too.Gassing Station | Home Mechanics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff