A wire EDM needs a hole drilled or burned by a non wire EDM first to be able to string the wire. Bolt and tap extraction with an EDM is done most time with a thin carbon electrode. Either way the part has to be sitting up right normally for it to work, and keep the coolant on the action.
Busted control arm bolt. DIY or not?
- Thread starter Kurtatron
- Start date
I’m late to the party and agree with you. Take it to the shop. This would be aggravating in my personal attached garage as it is, and worse for apartment parking lot repair.
Good advice above to give the tech a leg up by pre-soaking with penetrating oil.
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The only way I would try to get that out is weld a nut to the stud. The heat usually will loosen them up. I would weld with a 6010/11 rod to be sure the weld would bite into the stud. If it was still stubborn, I’d heat it up again with my induction heater. You made a wise decision letting someone with the knowledge and experience take this on.
A bit OT - but how do you like your induction heater? Which model do you have?
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I have a MiniDuctor Venim. It is pretty fast and I don’t have to worry as much about setting something on fire. Using the 6010 rod may be a bit of overkill, but it works really well overhead welding, plus they penetrate well.
Update: Worst case scenario news. The shop told me they are unable to remove the bolt, and that they broke TWO tools trying to get the bolt off.
What is this bolt hiding? What is going on here???
What should I do? I determined that the cross member can be removed to expose the bolt. Seems like a lot of work, but I don’t think the entire subframe needs to be lowered. Lowering just the cross member would give me a lot of access to the bolt.
The control arm bolt goes through this hole.
What is this bolt hiding? What is going on here???
What should I do? I determined that the cross member can be removed to expose the bolt. Seems like a lot of work, but I don’t think the entire subframe needs to be lowered. Lowering just the cross member would give me a lot of access to the bolt.
The control arm bolt goes through this hole.
What kind of tools? How did they attempt to remove it?
Find another cross member and have that swapped in. Probably less work.
Edit: just realized, the bolt might not anchor into that. If not, never mind.
I doubt think so. The bolt is threaded into a nut that is welded to the body of the car.
If you're not having other symptoms, the vehicle drives fine and presently no parts need to be replaced which involve this bolt, weld it and deal with it later, if later ever comes. You're already talking about dropping the whole xmember, so what's the difference later??
Option 2 is call automotive machine shops. Not just wrench turners. They will likely be more patient with it and have a larger arsenal of solutions. If your first guy broke a Difficult-Out in there, they just made life much harder. They should have just kept stepping up with LH bits, but ideally you need to start out concentric. I've made jigs before to locate my pilot bits so they can't walk (assuming hand drills -- in a mill this is not really a concern)
Option 2.5 is drop the xmember and take it to a machine shop -- if they don't have a lift this will be easiest for them. But, depending upon labor involved it may just be better to swap in a whole 'nother xmember once this one is out. I'm not familiar with the exact application here
Option 2 is call automotive machine shops. Not just wrench turners. They will likely be more patient with it and have a larger arsenal of solutions. If your first guy broke a Difficult-Out in there, they just made life much harder. They should have just kept stepping up with LH bits, but ideally you need to start out concentric. I've made jigs before to locate my pilot bits so they can't walk (assuming hand drills -- in a mill this is not really a concern)
Option 2.5 is drop the xmember and take it to a machine shop -- if they don't have a lift this will be easiest for them. But, depending upon labor involved it may just be better to swap in a whole 'nother xmember once this one is out. I'm not familiar with the exact application here
This. And shops need to make time but if I agree to a job and can't do it I usually don't charge, or just say $20 for consumables or something. Although to date I've always managed to extract broken fasteners or found a way around it even if it's the nuclear option of cut it all out and weld or re-tap or whatever
I make my life easier by never touching spiral flute extractors
Everyone's mileage may vary but I just don't use them.It would still help to know what tools they broke and what they attempted to do in removing the bolt. I've welded a nut on a broken stud like that, and I can't recall a time when it didn't work. You might strip out the nut on the other end but the bolt will come out.They just told me the car is unsafe to drive. They still can’t fix it.this is not looking good.
Is that what they did or just broke a drill and screw extractor? On a bolt this size with all that rust I wouldn't even try that.
Could it be a stud that is not threaded but some how welded to the unibody, and used to hold up that area of the sub frame?
If so that is a bit of major surgery to fix properly.
If so that is a bit of major surgery to fix properly.
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