ARGH FFS! Poxy Fiesta Pinch Bolt
Discussion
Well, having worked on cars since I was old enough to hold a spanner, I'm embarrassed to say a Fiesta pinch bolt for the damper has me beat.
Its 15mm, and I started with Plus Gas, left to soak, and a good wire brushing around the bolt head and threads. Looks in fine order.
On with a normal socket in a 3/8" ratchet (yes, I know this isn't smart), and using all of my might the socket slips off the bolt and I thrust my knuckles into the drive.
After a breather, I try again, this time with a foam mat on the floor and wearing gloves - and *snap*. As I'm rejoicing, I realise the bolt hasn't freed, instead my ratchet has snapped. f
k it.
So off to Halfords for a 3/8" breaker bar, never owned one for some reason, despite owning a few in 1/2". Get that home, using all my might, the socket shatters!
Off to the shed to get the blow lamp, get it glowing red, on with a 6 sided socket, rounded the bolt off
Ended up removing the whole leg compete with drive shaft. Get the impact wrench out of the box, plug it in and nothing. Brushes gone.
New brushes arrived today, got the wrench on the top nut and gun it off, only for a lifetime of water ingress (mixed with plenty of Plus Gas) in the top mount to splatter all over me, the shed, and everything in its path.
Sometimes I bloody hate cars!!
Moving onto the back brakes so I can clean inside the drums and give things a check over, and the first drum comes off fine, except the bearing disintegrates, on inspection it has been fitted by a buffoon.
The other drum isn't budging, heat, Plus Gas, a liberal thrashing with a hammer and lots of pry-bar action hasn't resulted in even the slightest movement. Off to Halfords to pick up a hub puller (my epic legged puller won't fit ), get that on after getting the drum nice and hot, I'm nipping the puller up and it shatters.
The really annoying thing is the car is in superb condition underneath. I don't mind tricky stuff presenting a challenge, but bog standard jobs on a Fiesta shouldn't be breaking this many tools...
I dare say I'm going to have to buy a new rear stub/hub assembly, and I'll probably leave the rounded pinch bolt on there for now, even though its making my teeth itch.
Its 15mm, and I started with Plus Gas, left to soak, and a good wire brushing around the bolt head and threads. Looks in fine order.
On with a normal socket in a 3/8" ratchet (yes, I know this isn't smart), and using all of my might the socket slips off the bolt and I thrust my knuckles into the drive.
After a breather, I try again, this time with a foam mat on the floor and wearing gloves - and *snap*. As I'm rejoicing, I realise the bolt hasn't freed, instead my ratchet has snapped. f
k it.So off to Halfords for a 3/8" breaker bar, never owned one for some reason, despite owning a few in 1/2". Get that home, using all my might, the socket shatters!
Off to the shed to get the blow lamp, get it glowing red, on with a 6 sided socket, rounded the bolt off
Ended up removing the whole leg compete with drive shaft. Get the impact wrench out of the box, plug it in and nothing. Brushes gone.
New brushes arrived today, got the wrench on the top nut and gun it off, only for a lifetime of water ingress (mixed with plenty of Plus Gas) in the top mount to splatter all over me, the shed, and everything in its path.
Sometimes I bloody hate cars!!
Moving onto the back brakes so I can clean inside the drums and give things a check over, and the first drum comes off fine, except the bearing disintegrates, on inspection it has been fitted by a buffoon.
The other drum isn't budging, heat, Plus Gas, a liberal thrashing with a hammer and lots of pry-bar action hasn't resulted in even the slightest movement. Off to Halfords to pick up a hub puller (my epic legged puller won't fit
), get that on after getting the drum nice and hot, I'm nipping the puller up and it shatters.The really annoying thing is the car is in superb condition underneath. I don't mind tricky stuff presenting a challenge, but bog standard jobs on a Fiesta shouldn't be breaking this many tools...
I dare say I'm going to have to buy a new rear stub/hub assembly, and I'll probably leave the rounded pinch bolt on there for now, even though its making my teeth itch.
It happens. I once replaced the whole front corner of a Peugeot 106 (hub, spring, shock, driveshaft, CV joint, and top mounts ) as some muppet had rounded the hub nut off. I didn't have time or tools for that so off I went to the breakers! These thing are sent to test us!
Glad the bodykit's off, it looked a trifle gash!
Glad the bodykit's off, it looked a trifle gash!
I know this is not going to help & I am not saying my approach would have suceeded, but you seem to have made a couple of avoidable mistakes in your approach.
Firstly good quality tools don't break, so the socket & ratchet were quite clearly not up to the job at hand. Poor quality tools will only ever cause you pain, they will break, slip, and cause you to injure yourself as you unfortunately found out.
You should have gone all out from the start as soon as you found the bolt stiff. 1/2" 6 point flank drive sockets are the only thing worth putting your weight behind, they will normally sort most of these things out with a good quality strong arm. Heat helps, as can penetrating fluid, which I see you tried, but the damage was probably already done by then.
I can't make my mind up when you talk about the drum, was it the puller, or the drum that shattered?
The other thing that you have found out is that cars that look good on top can still be in poor condition underneath.
I have to admit that I have owned & worked on many many different makes of cars & now stay with bmw for 2 reasons, the way they drive and the way they are built. I have owned 2 e39 & 2 e36 bms, the 2 e36s were & are track day cars, so I have had every nut & bolt off underneath of the 22 year old 325 & the 16 year old 328 and everything comes off & goes back on without any issues.
The same has been true of the 16 year old 523 & the 13 year old 530. They have been saviours to me over the years along with a lot of moneys worth of good quality tools, especially sockets & spanners.
Firstly good quality tools don't break, so the socket & ratchet were quite clearly not up to the job at hand. Poor quality tools will only ever cause you pain, they will break, slip, and cause you to injure yourself as you unfortunately found out.
You should have gone all out from the start as soon as you found the bolt stiff. 1/2" 6 point flank drive sockets are the only thing worth putting your weight behind, they will normally sort most of these things out with a good quality strong arm. Heat helps, as can penetrating fluid, which I see you tried, but the damage was probably already done by then.
I can't make my mind up when you talk about the drum, was it the puller, or the drum that shattered?
The other thing that you have found out is that cars that look good on top can still be in poor condition underneath.
I have to admit that I have owned & worked on many many different makes of cars & now stay with bmw for 2 reasons, the way they drive and the way they are built. I have owned 2 e39 & 2 e36 bms, the 2 e36s were & are track day cars, so I have had every nut & bolt off underneath of the 22 year old 325 & the 16 year old 328 and everything comes off & goes back on without any issues.
The same has been true of the 16 year old 523 & the 13 year old 530. They have been saviours to me over the years along with a lot of moneys worth of good quality tools, especially sockets & spanners.
Had the same problem just this week with a rear strut on a Mondeo, simple job to change a broken coil spring pinch bolt seized absolutely solid six sided socket and breaker bar, bolt head sheared off, cut the bolt with grinder through the slit in hub casting removed shocker and replaced spring 15 minutes, took me the next 2.5 hours to remove remains off sheared bolt.
andyiley said:
lots of good stuff
I appreciate the input.Its very clean underneath, infact its a superb little motor (surprisingly), its just frustrating being beaten by what would usually be very simple jobs. I suspect the bolts have previously been tightened by superman himself, or just haven't ever been off before.
I've always maintained my own cars (this Fiesta is my 34th car!), and I'll agree that Fords can be a PITA. I can't remember the last job I did that tested my patience as much as this has. Even my old Passat was a breeze to do the pinch bolts on, and they have a reputation for being trouble.
My e36 328i was a joy to work on for sure.
I agree ratchet and 12pt socket is a poor start. All my tools are good quality, but using them in the wrong situation is pretty daft I admit. I invested in some quality 6 sided sockets for exactly this purpose, but for some reason never got round to buying suitable bars! I've just pulled the trigger on a full set of 1/2" impact sockets so I can get my gun on them in the future, but boy does my impact wrench munch through brushes
Its the hub puller that shattered. Only a £13 Draper jobby, but I was still astonished it broke. The drum is still stuck fast. It rotates perfectly freely, but there is no movement on the shaft whatsoever (ooh err!). I'm undecided about what to do about that for now.
Yes the bodykit was horrible. A bit of a shame as it was actually a quality item that fitted well and good paint match etc. Just not to my liking whatsoever.
imagineifyeswill said:
Had the same problem just this week with a rear strut on a Mondeo, simple job to change a broken coil spring pinch bolt seized absolutely solid six sided socket and breaker bar, bolt head sheared off, cut the bolt with grinder through the slit in hub casting removed shocker and replaced spring 15 minutes, took me the next 2.5 hours to remove remains off sheared bolt.
You've just convinced me to leave the rounded off bolt in place for the time being. 
The only good thing about Fords is the bolts normally drill out easily, being made from monkey metal 'n all.Gassing Station | Home Mechanics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff