aligzaidi110

Hi,

I have 145K on my car and never changed shocks. This weekend i was in process of changing front Koni FSD, rear installed easy but front gave me so much trouble and pinch bolt did not come out. After breaking bolt head and tried to air hammer it but got no luck. Someone in forum said to put washer or bushing on nut and keep tightening and the bolt will pull out.... but it broke.
Now it looks like that I have just a rode going in knuckle without bolt head and nut.
Not sure what to do next.

Wake96c4

OUCH.

Not sure what to tell you here. Do you by chance have a ball joint removal kit handy? There might be enough bolt on one side to try to push it out.

My 98 Oldsmobile can also suffer this problem. When I replaced the struts on my Olds I removed the nut and used the ball joint press to push the bolt out. It looks like I may need to use the same approach when I replace the control arms on the Audi as well.

newa6er

remove the whole knuckle assembly with the upper control arms still attached, I have done it before it's not too bad. Once you get it out, drill out the pinch bolt if you're confident, if not take it to a machine shop.

FWIW, you did not have to remove the upper control arms to remove the shocks if you used a spring compressor.

aligzaidi110

Wake96c4, thanks for reply.

No i dot have ball joint kit, and not sure if that help at this point, lol. Bolt side is totally flatten after hammering. I should have cut the the bolt before spinning, that way i could have room to push it through the hole using pin chisel.
I'm sure there are people out there with the same situation that i am in.


Cutting a bolt gives some room inside to use chisel hammer method.

http://www.passatworld.com/forums/61...easy-pics.html

aligzaidi110

newa6er, thaks for reply...

So you are saying that i could swap the shocks without taking it off the entire thing, just compress the spring? hhmmm! what a waste of time.

what do you mean by drilling out? hammer it or literally make an hole with drill?

Wake96c4

I took a look at the link you had for the bolt removal. Aside from cutting the bolt my method using the ball joint press looks like it accomplishes the same method of removal, pushing the bolt through, just the other direction.

I'll try my ball joint tool when I rebuild the front suspension to see how well it works. I know it's quite a handy tool to have around though, with a breaker bar and a pipe on the end it hasn't failed me yet on forcing a strut bolt out or popping the ball joints out of a lower control arm. When I replaced the ball joints on my Trailblazer a few years back when the ball joint finally gave it sounded like a gun went off. I swear I was pushing with almost all of my might on a 3+ foot level cranking on that ball joint c-clamp before she'd let loose.

If that kind of force fails to push through a seized bolt I might just have to sell the car! LOL!

oaktreelimb

You have to put new bolt and nut anyway. If you can not remove the broken while it is in the vehicle, you can remove the whole assembly (knuckle, upper control arms, strut, and spring) and do it on the bench. Soak the broken area with wd-40 overnight will help.

newa6er

once you take the whole steering knuckle assembly out, a machine shop will put it on a drill press and literally drill out the pinch screw.

stop using force on the screw if you expand the hole too much you will ruin the steering knuckle

aTOMic

The key to using the air hammer is to use an anvil behind the part you're hammering on, otherwise the force from the hammer is dissipated through the "give" the suspension has! For the anvil, you can use anything heavy; an old brake disc, the head end of a sledgehammer,even a rock.

z06psi

First you need to get a chisel in that slot where it pinches the control arm ball joint. Spread that apart and it might loosen the pinch bolt enough to get a drift in there a bang it out. I suggest you drill a hole in the "rod" so the drift will stay centered. Oh and use a hand sledge as more weight will help with the impact. It will come out.