It's my first post here and I wish it was to say I just bought a new R8. Unfortunately it's because I'm enjoying my first encounter with the "Pinch Bolt" while upgrading my 04' A4 B6's suspension with fresh control arms, sways and Bilsteins. The drivers side is done, however the passenger side is held up by the stupid pinch bolt.

I checked the threads on here quite a bit, especially the one from xtreetoes (https://www.audiworld.com/forums/sho...php?p=18034303). I'd soaked the bolt about two nights before ever touching it knowing that it would be a bear to remove. Today when I tried to remove it, the bolt rotated out about 1cm then started to slowly bind. I sprayed it with more penetrant, waited and came back. It spun a bit more then the bolt head sheared right off, great. So I took the next step and tried to use the threaded end with stacks of washers/nuts to see if I could pull it out from that direction. No go, the threaded end is a bit mangled now as well.

So, I'm left with a mangled up threaded end on my pinch bolt and another end that is sheared flush with the surface (the bolt head end). I tried a bit of pounding with a punch and it doesn't move. At this point it's probably time to get medieval and drill it out.

From what I've read the next best thing to do is get out the drill and sawzall. I'm a bit worried about not drilling straight down the bolt. I suppose since I'm replacing the upper controls arms it shouldn't be too big of a deal. I'm more concerned about drilling out parts of the aluminum mount. I guess it wouldn't matter a whole lot as long as I don't remove to much material. The upper control arms are mainly held by the pinch bolt and the friction between the mount and the control arm ends. If I bore that out a bit will it be bad?

 

Dude, do yourself a favor. Go to your local Audi dealer and buy a new steering knuckle (the part the pinch bolt is stuck in. It costs 381 in CT with tax. It is near impossible to drill it out correctly. I know from experience. If you have time, you can buy the knuckles on audi for 150 each. One note, the new knuckle will not come with a bearing. You will need to buy that as well and have your hub pressed into the new bearing.

Audi charges 115/hr near me. Weigh it out. If you bring them what you have now it will cost you much more than buying the knuckle. With that new knuckle, it will take you about an hour to put each side back together.

Good luck. This job sucks!

 

bboissonneault,

Thanks for the reply, I'm in CT near Hartford and will grab the knuckle if all else fails. If I do get a new knuckle, I'm going to introduce my Sawzall to the existing knuckle and upper control arms with much gratification

I'm going to give it another try tomorrow with a center punch and a bigger hammer. What if I drill out a few cm of the bolt and insert a slightly smaller diameter rod I can hammer on?

As you can tell I'm reluctant to give up but may put myself in a worse situation by not.

 

I'm near Fairfield. Hoffman may be a decent dealer, but Audi of Fairfield is not. Stay away!

I used a center punch and damn near broke my hand. I tried to drill and went off center. I kept the knuckle and control arms to recycle as scrap. The only bright side is that aluminum is getting over a dollar a pound now.

Good luck to you and great to see someone else from CT.

 

Also, adding to my reply below, is this the correct bearing for the knuckle?

http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B6_A4-...arings/ES3463/

thanks

 

I might just take the whole audi to be recycled, lots of aluminum!

 

Quick update, I tried the xtreetoes method of drilling with a 1/4" bit then a 5/16" bit. The drill went pretty straight and I had little trouble cutting through the bolt. However, the remaining bolt material was glued to the walls of the spindle and wasn't coming out. I had already submitted to getting a new spindle so I thought why not try, too bad it didn't work.

So when I go to the dealer tomorrow all I need to ask them for is a new spindle and to press a new bearing into the spindle? Are there any other bits that I need to replace with the spindle? I have all of the hardware for the control arms/shocks/tie rod ends etc...

Once I get the new spindle I will MOST GRATIFYINGLY get out the sawzall and hack that old crap off.

 

I believe the part is called the knuckle. If you buy the bearing from them it will cost a ton. A local NAPA should carry the bearing and be able to press the hub into it. You will need to bring the old knuckle assembly to have your original hub pressed out. The NAPA cost should be about $115 all in (new bearing and pressing hub).

 

If I hypothetically wanted to waste a little bit of money for convenience sake, would the dealer be able to give me a knuckle with new bearing and a new hub press fit and ready to go? I'm going to at least ask them to see how much they'd charge. If it's extremely expensive I'll take the NAPA route you'd mentioned.

Fortunately the car is still drivable, it's a bit ghetto to be going around with 3 fresh bilsteins and on old shock though

 

I'm sure they could. Good luck.