Pinch Bolt - 1,000,000 Me - 0 (account of my long, miserable experience)
03-20-2008, 07:50 PM
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Pinch Bolt - 1,000,000 Me - 0 (account of my long, miserable experience)
Holy crap! The pinch bolt is the devil. I got my Vogtland GT suspension a few weeks ago. I got back from my vacation this past Friday so I decided to get up at 6 a.m. on Saturday and install my coilovers. My car lived most of its' life in Boston and New Hampshire (the salt kingdom). I also have the dreaded steel uprights on my 2001.5. I thought, "I've heard the pinch bolt is a pain, but it should be okay. I'll just use some Aero Kroil the previous night, a punch, and a hammer. It will come right out." Oh, how I was wrong.
Here's my adventure:
1) Put front-end on jackstands and remove wheels
2) Spray Aero Kroil in excess on pinch bolts on Friday night
3) Wake up at 6 on Saturday and begin work on pinchbolt
4) Remove nut from driver side pinchbolt. That was easy enough. This bolt should come right out.
5) Use air impact wrench with 25 gallon compressor and 80 extensions to try and get bolt out. Not happening.
6) Use breaker bar and extension to get socket on bolt. Great! It's moving. Thank god! Snap!!! There goes the head of the bolt.
7) "I saw that link from Passatworld on how to back out the bolt using a coupling and the OEM nut. I'll try that. I don't have the coupling but it should work with just the nut." Snap! Great, now both sides of the bolt are broken.
8) Tried everything under the sun: Torch knuckle with Mapp gas torch and use a punch with a 2lb. sledge hammer (put wet rag on upper control arms to keep boots from melting) That doesn't work. Use air hammer to punch out bolt. Nope. Continue trying this for literally hours back and forth. Finally make some progress where the bolt is probably 3/4 out. Continue hitting bolt with punch. Larger part of punch gets to the bolt hole. It's okay. It's small enough to push through the bolt hole. Wrong!! The punch gets stuck. Decide to cut off punch with a dremel and drill it out along with the rest of the pinch bolt. Go to Home Depot for the 3rd time and buy a new punch and cobalt drill bits.
9) Take a break from that side and decide to start the passenger side pinch bolt. Maybe this side will be easy (fingers crossed). Decide to use HDIAS4's method of a C-clamp and boxed end wrench. Go buy a 4" C-clamp and a boxed end wrench to fit. Give it a go and seems to be allowing the bolt to move. Ooops, broke the boxed end wrench in half. Run to Checkers yet again to get another one. Keep working on the bolt using this method. It seems to be working! Snap! The head of the bolt breaks off. Let's try the Passatworld method again to try and back out the bolt. Snap! Great, another challenge. Screw this, I'm going to work on the driver's side again.
10) Begin drilling and slowly make progress over a couple hours. Decide to quit for the day.
11) Wake up at 6 am on Sunday. I'm determined to not let this thing beat me
Continue drilling and trading off with torch/punch to try and knock that thing out. This punch is tough to drill through. Worked part of the day doing this and seemed to almost be done but had other stuff to do the rest of Sunday.
12) Go to work on Monday and start working on pinch bolt when I get home. Finally able to drill enough to punch the little bastard out. Success!! Remove the little covers in the engine bay, lower suspension bolt, 13 mm bolts under the hood, and pull out shock/spring. Use rented spring compressor from Checkers (worked great with my air impact wrench/didn't bend at all) and assembled new coilover with OEM parts and set to ride height (4.5") I will want. Quit for the night.
13) Back to work on the passenger side on Tuesday night. Try Mapp torch with hammer/punch mixed in with air hammer for an hour. Moved the bolt maybe 1/2-3/4 of an inch. Stop for the night.
14) Take a break on Wednesday but go buy another cobalt bit or two since the ones I used on the other side were dull
15) Go back to work tonight. Get sick of the torch/punch and air hammer combo so decide to start drilling like I did on the other side. I bought a bigger drill bit than I used on the other side. Seems like I have extra room to use the bigger bit. Making good progress. ****!! I must have not drilled on center like I did the other side. I see the bit coming through the metal on the side of the knuckle pinch bolt area. Great, now I get to buy a new knuckle. Quit for the night.
Moral of the story: If your car has steel uprights and spent a lot of time in the Northeast, TAKE IT TO A SHOP FOR THEM TO REMOVE THE PINCH BOLTS!
If I had to do it again, I would have bought the new pinchbolts/nuts and paid a shop to install them. Then do the rest of the job myself.
If I did do it myself again, get the coupling that is suggested in the Passatworld link and hopefully that will work.
Additionally, don't drill out the bolt. It's too hard to get the drill centered. I think I got lucky on the driver's side. I saw some people say they had to remove the knuckle and have a machine shop drill out the bolt using a drill press. That would be the way to go if it had to be drilled.
If you plan on using a torch at all, plan on replacing the upper control arms. I used a wet rag to protect the rubber boots but they still got damaged with my limited use of the MAPP torch. I just ordered the frontend suspension kit from Pure MS (TREs and control arms). Since I jacked up the boots on the CAs, I might as well replace everything up there. This has been the biggest pain in the a$$ I've ever experienced with a car. I'm sure I'll be happy though once the new knuckle,TREs, CAs, and coilovers are on and the alignment is done. It should be finished by 2009
Hopefully this will help others learn from my mistakes. I know I've learned a lot of what not to do.
Here's my adventure:
1) Put front-end on jackstands and remove wheels
2) Spray Aero Kroil in excess on pinch bolts on Friday night
3) Wake up at 6 on Saturday and begin work on pinchbolt
4) Remove nut from driver side pinchbolt. That was easy enough. This bolt should come right out.
5) Use air impact wrench with 25 gallon compressor and 80 extensions to try and get bolt out. Not happening.
6) Use breaker bar and extension to get socket on bolt. Great! It's moving. Thank god! Snap!!! There goes the head of the bolt.
7) "I saw that link from Passatworld on how to back out the bolt using a coupling and the OEM nut. I'll try that. I don't have the coupling but it should work with just the nut." Snap! Great, now both sides of the bolt are broken.
8) Tried everything under the sun: Torch knuckle with Mapp gas torch and use a punch with a 2lb. sledge hammer (put wet rag on upper control arms to keep boots from melting) That doesn't work. Use air hammer to punch out bolt. Nope. Continue trying this for literally hours back and forth. Finally make some progress where the bolt is probably 3/4 out. Continue hitting bolt with punch. Larger part of punch gets to the bolt hole. It's okay. It's small enough to push through the bolt hole. Wrong!! The punch gets stuck. Decide to cut off punch with a dremel and drill it out along with the rest of the pinch bolt. Go to Home Depot for the 3rd time and buy a new punch and cobalt drill bits.
9) Take a break from that side and decide to start the passenger side pinch bolt. Maybe this side will be easy (fingers crossed). Decide to use HDIAS4's method of a C-clamp and boxed end wrench. Go buy a 4" C-clamp and a boxed end wrench to fit. Give it a go and seems to be allowing the bolt to move. Ooops, broke the boxed end wrench in half. Run to Checkers yet again to get another one. Keep working on the bolt using this method. It seems to be working! Snap! The head of the bolt breaks off. Let's try the Passatworld method again to try and back out the bolt. Snap! Great, another challenge. Screw this, I'm going to work on the driver's side again.
10) Begin drilling and slowly make progress over a couple hours. Decide to quit for the day.
11) Wake up at 6 am on Sunday. I'm determined to not let this thing beat me
Continue drilling and trading off with torch/punch to try and knock that thing out. This punch is tough to drill through. Worked part of the day doing this and seemed to almost be done but had other stuff to do the rest of Sunday. 12) Go to work on Monday and start working on pinch bolt when I get home. Finally able to drill enough to punch the little bastard out. Success!! Remove the little covers in the engine bay, lower suspension bolt, 13 mm bolts under the hood, and pull out shock/spring. Use rented spring compressor from Checkers (worked great with my air impact wrench/didn't bend at all) and assembled new coilover with OEM parts and set to ride height (4.5") I will want. Quit for the night.
13) Back to work on the passenger side on Tuesday night. Try Mapp torch with hammer/punch mixed in with air hammer for an hour. Moved the bolt maybe 1/2-3/4 of an inch. Stop for the night.
14) Take a break on Wednesday but go buy another cobalt bit or two since the ones I used on the other side were dull
15) Go back to work tonight. Get sick of the torch/punch and air hammer combo so decide to start drilling like I did on the other side. I bought a bigger drill bit than I used on the other side. Seems like I have extra room to use the bigger bit. Making good progress. ****!! I must have not drilled on center like I did the other side. I see the bit coming through the metal on the side of the knuckle pinch bolt area. Great, now I get to buy a new knuckle. Quit for the night.
Moral of the story: If your car has steel uprights and spent a lot of time in the Northeast, TAKE IT TO A SHOP FOR THEM TO REMOVE THE PINCH BOLTS!
If I had to do it again, I would have bought the new pinchbolts/nuts and paid a shop to install them. Then do the rest of the job myself.
If I did do it myself again, get the coupling that is suggested in the Passatworld link and hopefully that will work.
Additionally, don't drill out the bolt. It's too hard to get the drill centered. I think I got lucky on the driver's side. I saw some people say they had to remove the knuckle and have a machine shop drill out the bolt using a drill press. That would be the way to go if it had to be drilled.
If you plan on using a torch at all, plan on replacing the upper control arms. I used a wet rag to protect the rubber boots but they still got damaged with my limited use of the MAPP torch. I just ordered the frontend suspension kit from Pure MS (TREs and control arms). Since I jacked up the boots on the CAs, I might as well replace everything up there. This has been the biggest pain in the a$$ I've ever experienced with a car. I'm sure I'll be happy though once the new knuckle,TREs, CAs, and coilovers are on and the alignment is done. It should be finished by 2009
Hopefully this will help others learn from my mistakes. I know I've learned a lot of what not to do.
03-20-2008, 08:06 PM
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lol..if it makes you feel any better....
i got both of my pinch bolts out in about 25 seconds. :P Oh how i love aluminum uprights. 
Even on my buddys 01 it wasn't that bad though, you should of jacked up the suspension, that will free up some tension on that bolt. And if the bolt is not spinning BEFORE the nut comes off, then you have problems and should not attempt to spin the bolt. Plus I wouldn't use a impact gun on that bolt, the vibration can cause it to prematurely crack and snap off.
Even on my buddys 01 it wasn't that bad though, you should of jacked up the suspension, that will free up some tension on that bolt. And if the bolt is not spinning BEFORE the nut comes off, then you have problems and should not attempt to spin the bolt. Plus I wouldn't use a impact gun on that bolt, the vibration can cause it to prematurely crack and snap off.
03-20-2008, 08:17 PM
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hehe..one thing i also noticed about 00' compared to 01-02's...
is the angle of that pinch bolt, in the 01+ cars, the pinch bolt is in at a pretty agressive angle, in the 00 cars its in almost straight across. I think this big angle is also part of the problem...angle + rusty steel, no good.
03-20-2008, 08:19 PM
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I had the same thing, but...
I took a cheap impact hammer and tapped on the upright, then spun the bolt right out with an impact. Took 2 minutes. I'd tried other method before with no luck at all. I hated that bolt. Sorry to hear about all your problems.
03-20-2008, 09:31 PM
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use anti sieze when putting the new bolts in
My '00 (late build w/ steel uprights) spent a year or two in NY before coming to the west coast...not sure how much snow it saw but there are some signs.
I managed to break the bolts free using a breaker bar and hammer/punch after a few hours of soaking. The key is to get the pinch bolt to spin before you really torque on the head. I gave it about 40-50 lbs of torque while tapping on the end of the bolt with the hammer.
I managed to break the bolts free using a breaker bar and hammer/punch after a few hours of soaking. The key is to get the pinch bolt to spin before you really torque on the head. I gave it about 40-50 lbs of torque while tapping on the end of the bolt with the hammer.
03-20-2008, 10:55 PM
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next time just unbolt the upper CAs... bolts come out when you drop the suspension
avoid the pinch bolt altogether.
(and yeah, on my car the pinch bolt tapped out easy with a punch and 3lb hammer)
(and yeah, on my car the pinch bolt tapped out easy with a punch and 3lb hammer)
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03-21-2008, 04:05 AM
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When reassembling...
be sure to coat the straight sides of the pinch bolt with never sieze. This will help 50,000 miles from now when the CA's need changing again. CAUTION - do not get any never seize on the threads of any suspension bolts!
Also, clean out the salt in your wheel wells once in a while. I usually take mine to a DIY spray booth after an extremely salty NE weekend and clean out the suspension components real well.
Also, clean out the salt in your wheel wells once in a while. I usually take mine to a DIY spray booth after an extremely salty NE weekend and clean out the suspension components real well.