A Bad Morning on the Driveway

[Broadsword]

Somehow I keep finding myself changing shock absorbers... So a 2006 Renault Clio 3 which was recently acquired for the purposes of saving fuel was known to have some suspension problems. One of them was quickly narrowed down to a completely dead rear shock absorber. Having acquired a replacement pair I got to work this morning. Simple enough to access the rear shocks on these, simple trailing arm rear suspension. Great! The rear springs look really clean but the offending rear shocker looked, well, shocking. Lots of soaking the bottom bolt with penetrating oil had been had at, also some heat. The bolt did start to move very slowly. It didn't get any easier, but I kept going very slowly. About half way I was running out of puff and noticed I was lifting the car up in the air with the ratchet. Then the inevitable snap, bang and the shock absorber fell off. The bolt snapped of course. I'm left with the what you can see in the photos. None of the bolt is sticking out, it's level with the beam.

 

I'm not sure an easyout will help given how stuck the remains of the bolt are. I only have a cordless drill at the moment. My question is has anyone successfully drilled out a bigish bolt like that without causing a big mess? I guess good cobalt drill bits and a good corded drill are in order. Somewhere I need to find the new bolts too.

 

[Split_Pin]

I dont have any advice but I really sympathise with you now. Your title is very apt!

[Talbot]

Drill very carefully and very centrally. Slowly enlarge hole until you are at the root diameter of the bolt threads, then peel the remaining thread out of the captive nut.

 

Easy* peasy*

[Mally]

Yes, centre punch exactly in the centre of the broken bolt, drill square and carefully.

If you have a nut to fit the bolt your last drill should be able to fit inside this nut with very slight play.

If you are exact you will be able to pick out the remains of the thread. In practise this rarely happens.

Tap the hole out, this may push out the old thread remains.

If your hole becomes oval for any reason you may find the bolt works loose in future,

[sierraman]

Cordless no good for a job like that. Borrow a mains and plenty of bits, if your desperate you could use some masonry bits.

See if a garage could weld a nut on. That might do it. In fact that would be my preferred choice.

 

I'd see first how easy you could get the rear arm off. Drilling laid on your back like that would be pure misery.

 

Don't use an easy out. If that snaps you are up shit creak. What did you undo the bolt with?

[Talbot]

Cordless no good for a job like that.

15 years ago I would have agreed with you. These days a cordless is the drill of choice for this sort of job. I don't even own a mains drill any more as cordless ones are just so good these days.

 

Don't use an easy out.

+1bn on that though. Easy outs are the spawn of satan.

[MikeR]

drill it all out , stick a new bolt all the way throu and a new self locking nut ???

[sierraman]

If you've got time, I'd say try and get another arm. You'll be drilling that for sometime. It will also be difficult to drill straight.

[castros_bro]

Try putting a postcode of your ailing Clio and you may find someone willing to lend you the necessary tackle.

 

Here's one I destroyed earlier.

 

[dave21478]

Drill it out and even if you fuck it up, you can get a helicoil kit to repair the hole. Ebay sell the kit for under a tenner....you will need to know the thread spec... M10 x 1.25 etc so you get the right one, but its simple and strong.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Helicoil-Thread-Repair-Inserts-Spare-Kit-M5-M6-M8-M10-M12-M14-0-825mm-1-75mm/281938550348?epid=1159700852&hash=item41a4d8de4c:m:mX0kzdtNdIJTiAP9681-wRg

 

[spike60]

See if a garage could weld a nut on. That might do it. In fact that would be my preferred choice.

 

 

This.  It works well, with the heat helping to free the threads.

[sierraman]

The ends of the arms are open, I wonder if some sort of reciprocal saw would cut the inners off.

[Broadsword]

Thanks for the replies people. My postcode is YO42 and I'm about 10 mins from U-Pullit. One option would be replace the whole rear suspension beam, but that seems a bit drastic. I'm leaning towards drilling it out carefully, albeit I haven't done that sort of thing before. Lucky for us we have three cars, the Jag, the Xantia and the Clio, so the Clio can sit on the drive for now. I don't think it's any less drivable than before, the old shock wasn't contributing towards anything. I always find it very difficult for local mechanics to take even basic jobs on these days. I might have to bite the bullet and get a good drill and drill bits, then give it a go next week.

[DodgeRover]

Left handed drill bits and follow the advice given above about making sure you are central.

[myglaren]

A hammer drill operated in reverse will sometimes shock and unwind stuck bolts.

Cheap to try if you have a hammer drill available.

[MarvinsMom]

i think that you will never, ever get that broken bolt out of there.

 

sorry to be a bit of a Negatron about it, but i did exactly the same thing on a Rover 820 front arm a few years ago.

 

drilling it out. nice and square and centrally, unsless you are really skilled and have top notch kit just isn't going to happen.

 

as you live close to U-pull it, save your self a whole heap of hastle and go and buy another back beam for it!

[DSdriver]

Is it in a blind hole or does it come out the other side? If it goes right through you can hammer drill right handed drill bit. It will also give you an idea if you have drilled square if you can see the hole in the bolt from the other side.

[dollywobbler]

Cobalt drill bits will chew merrily through that in no time. They're awesome. I'd like to try a left-threaded drill bit in such circumstances. Handy if it does unwind the remnant.

[artdjones]

Is any of the bolt sticking out of the other side of the captive nut.If there is then it could have a nut welded to it and the whole lot could be screwed out the other way,if you see what I mean.

[Broadsword]

Yes, so the other end is hollow and part of the bolt is still sticking out. Access isn’t great of course and to get anything welded on would require a mechanic at which point I might as well ask for them to try and extract the bolt.

[tooSavvy]

https://youtu.be/aRrz-cphBY4

 

..... YaY .....

 

 

TS

[Honey Badger]

Heat it up with a propane torch first, let it cool and then see if you can clamp a couple of squares close it it to act as a reference to keep the drill square.

 

Cobalt might be a bit fragile to use freehand and if you snap one in the bolt your fucked, maybe trying the Bosch blue multi drills with the carbide tips, they seem to be up to most jobs you throw at them?

[artdjones]

Yes, so the other end is hollow and part of the bolt is still sticking out. Access isn’t great of course and to get anything welded on would require a mechanic at which point I might as well ask for them to try and extract the bolt.

Is there enough to get a good pair of grips on to start the bolt winding through.If you can just get it moving it should wind through ok.

[Mally]

Left handed drill bits and follow the advice given above about making sure you are central.

 

Always remembering to run your drill in reverse.

It will work most times,

[Broadsword]

I’ve ordered some plus gas since some swear by it, it might help a little. My normal vice grips are too big to get in at the other end of the bolt. I could do with a small pair of grips so it could be worth a go in conjunction with plus gas and lots of heat. I’m commuting in the XJ40 this week (I’m doing the least miles in the household) while the Clio waits to be sorted out!

[sierraman]

Can't see a garage charging much to weld a nut on. £30 tops.

[Talbot]

If the bolt is still sticking out through the other side of the captive nut, then I would have said the easiest thing to do would be to dremmel a screwdriver slot in the remains of the bolt, and then run it back through the nut and out the other side (assuming there's enough clearance to get the bit out).

 

Trying to unwind it further means you're trying to pull corroded and dirty threads through an already-stiff nut, which is what caused the bolt to snap off in the first place. By "pushing it back out the other way" you are only using threads of the bolt that are already in the nut.

 

I'd still go with trying to drill it out. If you have a dremmel or similar, you may be able to drill it out most of the way and then use a tiny grinder head to get to the last bit before peeling the threads out.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Take it to a garage and pay up.

 

That job will be a fucking disaster from start to finish. The chances of you getting that out - rusted and seized in - are slim. That will require the gas axe to get it all red hot for starters.

 

Top tip: suspension bolts. Wind them in and out - two turns out, one back in, lots of WD. Wind it out when it's easy.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Cobalt drill bits will chew merrily through that in no time. They're awesome. I'd like to try a left-threaded drill bit in such circumstances. Handy if it does unwind the remnant.

 

 

Not if they're Halfords cobalt ones. They won't drill through shit.

[dave21478]

Yyyyeah...if it was winding out and tightened due to crud on the exposed threads to the point where it snapped, you are not going to move it with mole grips or a slot and screwdriver.