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broken control arm bolt

johnnyRacer

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
Messages
776
Location
Tampa, FL.
Ok so I was replacing both my front lower control arms. When I was removing the bracket bolts on the right side the long bolt broke off. Its the bracket that has two 14mm nut and two 17mm bolts (1 short and 1 long). Of course the the long one sheared right off when I put alot of torque on it. Tried spraying it first with rust bust but it still broke off. Has any one else done this or repaired this?
 

broxma

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2009
Messages
911
Location
San Antonio Tx
I had to do a fix to the exact same bolt, same side. First, did the bolt that came out still have any threads showing on it? The hole that bolt goes into is actually larger than the bolt by a good amount and the threaded part in the frame/subframe are quite a ways up into the hole.

My solution was to get a bolt with threads just bigger than the large hole, before the threads the OEM bolt broke off in. When you remove the U-bracket, you can get an idea as to what I am describing. I believe the bolt I used was a very coarse thread 9/16. I basically cut the threads with a bolt, then used a new bolt once the threads were cut. I didn't have a coarse 9/16 tap so, I would cut a turn or so, then remove it, oil it, and cut another. If I recall, the bolt was about 2.5-3 inches long. The head on the bolt was huge as well, somewhere in the 7/8 range.

If you want, you could try to drill it out and use a reverse thread on it, but considering the size of the OEM bolt, I kinda went with the notion it wasn't going to come out. The oversized bolt I used is working great. It even tightened in excess of 50 pounds when I got it finished. Took about 15 minutes.

/brox
 

I had the short 17mm bolt break on mine, I ended up taking the front sub frame out of the car and drilling and re-tapping the hole with the broken bolt.. not much fun.

if you take the sub frame out can you get something on the bolt?
 

johnnyRacer

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
Messages
776
Location
Tampa, FL.
No. It sheared off down in the hole. The bolt broke off right where the threads begins.
 
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