Busted lower ball joint clamp bolt! Fast help?

I'm trying to do the front axle on my POS Legacy (I hate this car!).

I followed the DIY and when I got to loosening the lower ball joint clamp, no matter how much PB Blaster I had and how long it soaked, it didn't prevent me from snapping the head from the bolt.

 

I'm drilling out the bolt itself and was thinking my options for replacement are:

a) Tap it out and put the correct bolt in

b) Drill it out completely and put a bolt and nut completely through it.

 

B is easier, but WHAT BOLT DO I NEED FOR THE PROPER METHOD?

if yu drill it out from the other end, not where the bolt head was, it may start to unthread as you are drilling.

 

the bolt and nut has worked before.

but if you drill carefully from the other end the threads may still be good.

 

your other option is to buy a replacement used knuckle from http://www.car-part.com. put in your zip and sort by distance to see what is close.

What bolt are you talking about? If you mean the one that secures the balljoint to the knuckle then you didn't do it right. You want to remove the 17mm castle nut that secures the balljoint to the lower control arm. There's a cotter pin you need to remove first then loosen the 17mm nut and using a hammer pound on the lower control arm right where the BJ goes through the LCA while prying downward on the LCA. I use a short length of chain with a nut and bolt wrapped around the LCA and use the chain and pry bar to push downward. You also first must remove the nut and bolt on the lower hole of the sway bar end link so you can push down on the LCA.

To remove the broken bolt that you weren't supposed to take out, you can either weld a nut to the bolt and remove it through the other side or you'll have to drill out the center of the bolt and use a easy-out while applying a good amount of heat. But not too much that you burn up the balljoint.

Why are you removing the BJ to do an axle?

 

O.

I followed THIS DIY.

 

The sway bar link is disconnected. I did take the castle nut off and tried popping the LCA loose that way, but it wasn't budging.

ok. More than one way to skin a cat.

A strong pry bar will pop the LCA from the BJ.The longer the better.

You'll still have to replace that bolt tho.

 

O.

Yep... there's no bolt there anymore. Just a series of widening holes and a few shards of broken drill bits.

 

Did I mention that I hate this car?

Oh yeah, I did... and I still do.

You have to pound the LCA on the side where the welded seam is until you see the LCA drop a little. Then you use a pry bar and pound the LCA more until it comes out fully. They can be a little PIA to pop loose but just hit the LCA with a heavier hammer and she'll pop out.

The same fuckery happened to me, when I was trying to do a simple wheel bearing R&R. I have a car that spent its infancy in MA, so it is rusty as all hell. I had to buy two used hubs. They came from a yard in San Diego...the wheel bearings were good, so I just used the old bearings...I wish I had just bought the CA hubs to begin with.

The "castle nut loosening/hit the side of the LCA/pry bar downward" trick worked in all of about 3 minutes. Damn that DIY for the wrong fargin' way to do it!

 

The axle went in, I used a thru bolt to pin the clamp shut, put it all back together and it works... Well, I should say that it works FOR NOW! I'm still waiting for the next thing to break.

the ball joint is not help in by the ''pinch'' alone. the bolt rides in a groove in the base of the ball joint and that locks it in.the pinch just prevents it from moving around, and getting sloppy.

 

you should be fine.