Hi

Hope you can help with this problem because I am stuck !

I have a 2001 1800cc TD Di hatch

Today I tried to replace the N/S front wishbone which should have been a straightforward job but now I am truly stuck.

The Ball Joint clamping bolt (Torx head) is seized in solid with rust and the Torx recess in the head of the bolt has rounded out .What a useless arrangement !

I need to remove the whole strut and hub and wishbone assembly to get access to the clamping bolt ot take it to a local engineering shop .

I have tried shifting the 32mm laminated hub nut and even with 18 stone on it it will not shift so I cannot remove the drive shaft spline .

Could I split the drive shaft further up so that I could remove the whole assembly ? If so where should I split it and how easy is it to put back together again? It has popped out a couple of times and I pushed it back in again. is it just as simple as undoing the gaiter and pulling the drive shaft out ?

Hello and welcome to the forums

the torx head clamp bolt (pinch bolt) you could drill the head off the bolt and then use a pin punch to knock the remainder out.

as for the hub nut (these are 30mm not 32mm?), what size of bar are you using to shift it? I tend to use a 3/4" 600mm bar for these and very rarely get stuck with that. You could pull the driveshaft out of the gearbox, no need to remove any gaiters. you will loose some oil though.

hope this helps

Hi thanks for the welcome and the quick response Stef . I'm pulling my hair out here with frustration.

The Torx clamp bolt is a threaded bolt unfortunately so I'd have to drill out the threaded end before I could extract the rest of the bolt .

If I can remove the drive shaft nut I can remove the whole assembly so i can get to it . I can then either drill it out and retap it or take it to the local engineer to do a proper drilling tapping job on it.

The Hub nut on this car is a strange laminated arrangement and it is definitely 32mm I've used a guage on it and bought a 32mm socket .

I'll see if I can borrow a 3/4" socket and breaker bar from a farmer friend tomorrow and really give it some beans .!

So If I undoo the inner rubber gaiter I can just pull the drive shaft out can I ? will I lose all the gearbox oil ?

The lower pinch bolt which holds the ball joint should have a nut on the end? that one isn't threaded into the knuckle.

It should be like this..http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Ford-Focus-Lower-Arm-Pinch-Bolt-Nut-98-05-/281150904189?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3AFord%7CModel%3AFocus&hash=item4175e6577d

I thought the front and rear hub nuts were both 30mm but obviously not, its been a while mind! haha

no need to remove the gaiter, the shaft will pull out from the gearbox. You might need to lever it slightly.

Great fun working on older cars ain't it... nothing but seized nuts and bolts

brilliant ! I couldn't find that bolt earlier so i've ordered one from my local Ford Dealer..

Yep thats the one but surprisingly enough it actually screws into the hub knuckle before the nut is screwed onto the end of it. I figure belt n braces ? if the nut were to fall off the bolt can't work its way out ? EDIT I was wrong here the bolt does not thread into the knuckle ! thanks for the correction

I gave up working on cars 20 years ago but times are hard especially on the retired so here I am getting ny hands dirty and busting my knuckles again ! groan.

Thanks for your help Stef much appreciated mate

Edited March 3, 201412 yr by xs650

are you sure its not just stuck with corrosion? i have removed many of them on many different fords and never come across that yet.. they do tend to get stuck in tight with corrosion. What I usually find is I can remove the nut but it leaves the bolt stuck firmly in place. screw the nut back on hand tight and give it a few hits with a hammer...it goes eventually.

The nut is a locking type/nyloc so no chance its coming off on its own.

(The upper pinch bolt for the strut is threaded into the knuckle)

I was convinced it was just an ordinary bolt and I smashed it without mercy but it didn't budge a mm.

i used several hammers and even tried a G cramp but nothing doing.

I couldn't really get a good swing at it but I think it should have moved a bit .

The bolt is quite soft so it should be east to drill out but I'll check the picture of the bolt on ebay and compare the amount of thread showing which should confirm if the knuckle is threaded or not.

Tomorrow I should get a 3/4" socket and breaker bar so I should be able to remove everything and be able to see what I'm doing.

This is the type of hub nut I have

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FEBI-17591-Ford-Focus-1-8-TDCi-115-MK-1-01-05-Diesel-HATCH-WHEEL-HUB-NUT-/190979566408?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2c7744eb48

I'll post back with the result.

Thanks for your help Stef

Johnny

That bolt should defo not be threaded into the hole I,ve had trouble myself with these in the past .have you released the track rod so you can swivel it for a better hit I'd tend to crack the nut off wind it off a few threads then hit the nut rather than the bolt use loads of wd or plus gas it's a real stupid design using a torx on that as you tend to snap your torx bit or round it off percivior it will go .

The torx fitting is really only to hold the bolt while you tighten/slacken the nut so they are generally quite poor. If they are stuck well enough you won't need to hold it though.

yeah its a rubbish design alright. There isn't even a reasonable depth in the torx head !.

Thanks for the additional confirmation.

I did wind the nut back on the bolt and smacked it with a really heavy hammer but it didn't budge a mm .

I can't really get a good swing though as the hammer handle is hitting the brake disc occasionally even though I wound the track rod end off and pulled the disk round. I was thinking of removing the caliper and disk but seeing that its fixed with stupid allen key bolts I thought that maybe I had dug myself a deep enough hole for one day ! lol

It either needs going up on a ramp or the whole blasted thing coming off the car so I can put it on a solid surface and get a good clean hit on it. I could get some heat on it maybe or just drill it out if I have to.

I think the thing that is making the bolt tight is that the bottom knuckle joint that takes the ball joint spigot is a pinch type clamp . I might try spreading it a tad tomorrow .

Thanks guys for all your help and advice and quick response. You've put my mind at rest over the bolt so I know its just a case of giving it a good clean hit rather than trying to turn the bolt out.

How did you get on with this one?

Hi Stef apologies for not getting back to you on this one and putting it to bed.

i think the job traumatised me so much I've been recuperating ever since lol.

In the end I just could not get a good enough swing at the ball joint pinch bolt to hammer it out. I was hitting the hub .

If I have to do the job again I would definitely do it differently. I'd get a 3/4" socket set and breaker bar for the hub nut and use a 3 foot tube with it to get sufficient leverage to remove the hub nut .

I was lifting the front end of the car off the axle stand and it wouldn't budge !

I removed the brake caliper and brake disk but still couldn't get at that pinch bolt so I took the whole wishbone and strut out of the car .

The pinch bolt came out in one good hit ! but then I noticed that the coil spring was broken so the strut would have to have come out anyway !

I took the strut to a local garage with a new spring and they used their pneumatic spring compressor to replace the spring £10 a bargain and cheaper and safer than buying a spring compressor and doing the job myself.

It all went back on easily and I cleaned and greased everything for next time. The car is booked in for an MOT Friday and I'll get them to retorque the hub nut to whatever ridiculous force it needs and check adjust the front tracking.