bjkroll Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 Has anyone gone thru the process of rebuilding the steering knuckle on these cars? To be clear, im referring the the housing that holds the wheel hub, bolts to the LCA and strut. My problem was that while in the process of removing the lower ball joint pinch bolt, the head broke off the bolt. IMHO this is a horrible design as you should never have anything threading into cast iron.. or stuff like this happens. Has anyone fixed this type of issue? What did you do? Helicoil? I was thinking of either a heli coil or possibly pressing in a busing where the original threads were, and running a longer bolt thru... allowing me to cap it with a nut on the other end. What were YOUR guys' solution? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osei Posted May 5, 2014 Share Posted May 5, 2014 After sage advice from this forum I drill it out and use a bolt with a nut on the other side. Start with a small size then go bigger. Just had to do this last week. Was easier to replace spindle than press bearing in and out. O. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjkroll Posted May 5, 2014 Author Share Posted May 5, 2014 If you start using a bigger bolt, won't that effect the tapered part of the ball joint stud? Or was that not an issue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osei Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 The pinch bolt only closes the gap so that the ball joint is retained in its groove. The same as a nut and bolt. So no, no issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spooln30 Posted May 6, 2014 Share Posted May 6, 2014 Should ve used a little PB Blaster. I've never broken one on a Subaru. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mailman Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 I would try and drill it out. I stripped the threads on mine and just bought a new spindle for $50 from the junkyard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandit240 Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Mine are all just bolts and nuts as well. Must have been drilled by a prior owner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealAbstract Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Any update on drilling it out? Mine started stripping so I never got my ball joint out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmedic Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 I've cracked them before trying to remove ball joints. I built a copy of sniper1rfa's ball joint puller and that's less of an issue now. Doesn't help one bit if the bolt is rusted in and snaps. . for that the only salvation is copious amounts of P'Blaster, patience, and a 1/2" impact driver. I find changing directions a few times during removal helps on the stubborn ones. On my Baja, I did take the spindles down to nothing (pressed the hubs and bearings out), sandblasted them and painted them with POR 15 before reinstalling. . . and slathered on a good layer of anti-seize in the ball joint cup. Should last forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealAbstract Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I gave in paid a local shop $73 to install it. I don't regret giving up.... There was lots of torching and banging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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