I've got some play in the ball joint on one of the wishbones and so am attempting to replace it (the whole thing).

Exactly as per dreaded expectation I have failed at the first hurdle and am unable to get the pinch bolt undone, or more specifically whilst I've got the nut loose the bolt itself is stuck fast. So stuck that having used my cheap-but-often-effective 12v impact gun I've ended up rounding off the bolt head by slipping off it leaving my only option, presumably, to knock it through from the nut sized. But, it's just not budging.

I've been spraying it with PlusGas periodically throughout the day and whacking the bolt from the other end with a lump hammer but to no avail.

Any suggestions? Even just reassurance that it will come up, one day?

I don't have an often-mentioned blow torch. Do I need one?

 

It will easily come off with a 6 sided socket and an impact gun.

I guess looking at the damage to the corners of the bolt head you have the more common 12 point socket and have applied steady force.

impact gun way to go 👍

Thank you both.

It was a 6-sided 13mm impact socket but on occasion it was slipping off (operator error I suspect) and I think in the process starting to take the edges off. It now doesn't take any torque before slipping round.

I've got a 6-sided 12mm socket but it's too small to fit. Could I hammer it on?

you can try hammering it on but it wont do your socket much good but who cares as long as it comes off🙂

Yeah I don't mind sacrificing the socket. Indeed if it works I'd be buying its replacement with a smile on my face!

Sockets won't get damaged by hammering unless they're really poor quality lol.

Remember it's a 'pinch' bolt though, the spring action of the hub halves may be holding it in place if it won't budge with the weight of a lump hammer... 

Hallelujah! It's out! All thanks to a bit of luck and (someone else's) skill...

I decided to pop out for another dose of PlusGas and threw in a few more hammer blows. At hearing the hammering the guy over the road came over for a chat and revealed that his Dad - who only happens to be a truck mechanic - is coming over shortly and he could bring him over if I wanted.

So, neighbour's Dad arrives and announced 'I'll get that out, no probs' and proceeded to hammer my 12mm impact socket on to the rounded-13mm bolt head whilst simultaneously warning me that it might be 12-and-a-bit-mm by the time he's finished. He then pulled a breaker bar out of his car that was so long we had to move the neighbours car out of the way for him to use it. Following a bit of grunting and a strained 'Ooh she's tight' announcement out came the words 'There she goes' and I could see some slight rotation. He to'd and fro'd with it, bit more PlusGas, and a few Thor-like hammer blows later it was out! He then said he'll get the ball joint out too whilst he's there as it might be awkward, so with few more hammer blows and a chisel it too was free.

It turns out to have been the shank that was the issue and so my focus with the PlusGas on the head was seemingly misplaced, although I did do the shank quite a bit too. I suppose with the open-clamp of the knuckle it's the shank that gets the exposure so it stands to reason it'd suffer the most.

Thanks again everyone for the input. It'll all be useful next time I'm in a pickle, which no doubt will be tomorrow when I need to get the two wishbone bolts out! I've always got the fallback plan of catching the neighbour's eye again and asking how his Dad is.

42 minutes ago, MJNewton said:

Hallelujah! It's out! All thanks to a bit of luck and (someone else's) skill...

I decided to pop out for another dose of PlusGas and threw in a few more hammer blows. At hearing the hammering the guy over the road came over for a chat and revealed that his Dad - who only happens to be a truck mechanic - is coming over shortly and he could bring him over if I wanted.

So, neighbour's Dad arrives and announced 'I'll get that out, no probs' and proceeded to hammer my 12mm impact socket on to the rounded-13mm bolt head whilst simultaneously warning me that it might be 12-and-a-bit-mm by the time he's finished. He then pulled a breaker bar out of his car that was so long we had to move the neighbours car out of the way for him to use it. Following a bit of grunting and a strained 'Ooh she's tight' announcement out came the words 'There she goes' and I could see some slight rotation. He to'd and fro'd with it, bit more PlusGas, and a few Thor-like hammer blows later it was out! He then said he'll get the ball joint out too whilst he's there as it might be awkward, so with few more hammer blows and a chisel it too was free.

It turns out to have been the shank that was the issue and so my focus with the PlusGas on the head was seemingly misplaced, although I did do the shank quite a bit too. I suppose with the open-clamp of the knuckle it's the shank that gets the exposure so it stands to reason it'd suffer the most.

Thanks again everyone for the input. It'll all be useful next time I'm in a pickle, which no doubt will be tomorrow when I need to get the two wishbone bolts out! I've always got the fallback plan of catching the neighbour's eye again and asking how his Dad is.

It would be a good Idea to put lots of grease in the gap after the new one is tightened up to save problems if it has to come off in the future. That is something I do on a regular basis when working on my cars when the wheels are off the check Brakes etc.

You can't beat the law of the lever. I have amassed a few different sized hollow Tubes to fit over my Breaker Bars for extra leverage including cut down Scaffolding Tubes and some oversized Stillsons for where nuts are rounded.

1 hour ago, MJNewton said:

Hallelujah! It's out! All thanks to a bit of luck and (someone else's) skill...

I decided to pop out for another dose of PlusGas and threw in a few more hammer blows. At hearing the hammering the guy over the road came over for a chat and revealed that his Dad - who only happens to be a truck mechanic - is coming over shortly and he could bring him over if I wanted.

So, neighbour's Dad arrives and announced 'I'll get that out, no probs' and proceeded to hammer my 12mm impact socket on to the rounded-13mm bolt head whilst simultaneously warning me that it might be 12-and-a-bit-mm by the time he's finished. He then pulled a breaker bar out of his car that was so long we had to move the neighbours car out of the way for him to use it. Following a bit of grunting and a strained 'Ooh she's tight' announcement out came the words 'There she goes' and I could see some slight rotation. He to'd and fro'd with it, bit more PlusGas, and a few Thor-like hammer blows later it was out! He then said he'll get the ball joint out too whilst he's there as it might be awkward, so with few more hammer blows and a chisel it too was free.

It turns out to have been the shank that was the issue and so my focus with the PlusGas on the head was seemingly misplaced, although I did do the shank quite a bit too. I suppose with the open-clamp of the knuckle it's the shank that gets the exposure so it stands to reason it'd suffer the most.

Thanks again everyone for the input. It'll all be useful next time I'm in a pickle, which no doubt will be tomorrow when I need to get the two wishbone bolts out! I've always got the fallback plan of catching the neighbour's eye again and asking how his Dad is.

glad it workout for you 🙂

I know it’s done now, but it’s useful to have old imperial sockets as well as metric as they are sometimes in between metric.   Eg half inch socket is 12.5mm

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Edited September 18, 20223 yr by MJNewton
Posted the same message twice

That's a good idea re the imperial sockets, although frustrating as I seem to recall chucking a set out that I'd found at one point thinking they'd be no use to me!

I'd seemingly been punished enough yesterday as I'm pleased to report that the remaining bolts - and the wishbone itself - came out without any drama and the new one is now in.

Thanks everyone for all the input and support.

Stiil have all my Whitworth sockets and spanners from the 1960,s onwards from when I was a press tool setter.

Whitworth will give you even more options for hammering on to rounded bolts/ nuts. Never get rid of any tools as you never know when you might need to improvise

1 hour ago, isetta said:

Whitworth will give you even more options for hammering on to rounded bolts/ nuts. Never get rid of any tools as you never know when you might need to improvise

i keep everything but its hell trying to find stuff lol

Update 18 months on:

The wishbone on the other side now needed replacing (ball joint play again) and so I thought I'd add my approach to this thread for the sake of the archive.

This time round I knew it was the corrosion on the shank of the pinch bolt that was the issue and that getting some rotational movement into it was key. No amount of hammer blows were going to cut it, not least given the play in the suspension that I could tell was sapping the impact.

So, I gave my impact gun a try and all I was getting was a rounding of the bolt head. This wasn't from slipping off like I'd assumed with the other side - just the softness of the bolt metal not being able to cope with the less-than-perfect socket fitting. So I hammered on an undersized socket and following further applications of Plusgas and a few cycles of heat (being careful not to melt the CV joint boot - I really didn't want to have to disturb the non-reusable 255Nm hub nut to shift it out of the way) I was able to get a slight amount of rotational movement with the breaker bar. Not much but I could just about move it to and fro so I knew it was somewhat free at that point.

I then whipped out this 6kg bad boy:

It came as part of a £30 ball joint remover kit (AimTools 450701) which I'd seen on the Torque Test Channel that other similarly-priced tools could deliver over 5 tonnes of clamping force before starting to deform.

I didn't take a photo of it in-situ but I basically wrapped it around the bolt, clamped it up and made use of the hole in the receiving end of the handle to apply some rotation to the bolt head with my breaker. Bit by bit it started to shift and after a few iterations of tightening the clamp, twisting the bolt, spraying a bit more Plusgas, rinse-and-repeat it came out.

Like before the bolt didn't look completely destroyed by corrosion but clearly what does build up is enough to seize things up good and proper. I copper greased the replacement, but hopefully it won't need doing again anyway.