Hi guys and Girls,
Hoping to get a little help could not find any threads on this.
Just replaced the front antirollbar bushings and during this had to loosen and drop the subframe 25mm. (side note you only need to lower the passenger side to get the mount off the drivers side can be done without lowering the subframe if you use a ratchet wrench with a swivel head.) now the problem i have is the captive nut on the drivers side mount is no longer captive broke free and spins while i was trying to loosen. Could anyone help and tell me what size wrench i need for the nut and how do i get it in there hopefully without cutting anything.
paul.

 

ok guys, I did a little hunting around and found this from our friends across the pond.

Suspension overhaul nightmare
what I am going to try this weekend is find a cheap (harbor freight probably) 21mm combo wrench and cut off the open end so i can slide it up inside the rail will let you guys know how it goes and post pics. wish me luck.

 

Ok Guys and girls
managed to tighten the bolt without cutting the floor pan here is how I did it.

remove the plastic plug.
Attachment 76956

Grind the sides of your 21mm wrench.
Attachment 76957

now we need to bend the wrench to fit.

Attachment 76960

kind of looks like this when you are done.
Attachment 76961

slide the wrench in the hole takes a little wiggle had to remove the front wheel and shine a flashlight in through the front to see.
Attachment 76959

use a screwdriver through the front holes to get it on the bolt. also had to turn the bolt to get it in the correct position.
torque the bolt down when you have finished to 142Nm 105lb-ft

No cutting the floor just a little patience and test fitting and a cheap 21mm wrench from harbor freight

 

Ok Guys and girls
managed to tighten the bolt without cutting the floor pan here is how I did it.

remove the plastic plug.


Grind the sides of your 21mm wrench.


now we need to bend the wrench to fit.



kind of looks like this when you are done.




slide the wrench in the hole takes a little wiggle had to remove the front wheel and shine a flashlight in through the front to see.





use a screwdriver through the front holes to get it on the bolt. also had to turn the bolt to get it in the correct position.
torque the bolt down when you have finished to 142Nm 105lb-ft

No cutting the floor just a little patience and test fitting and a cheap 21mm wrench from harbor freight
__________________

 

Genius! Will come in handy if that ever happens. That bolt is a definite weak point in the suspension.

 

That just happened to mine this past week. Thanks for the pictures. I will be getting one this weekend. Anyone have a clue on how to weld it back? HAHA

 

just make sure you give the bolt a good soaking in penetrating oil.
gave mine a good soaking each day for a week and she still took a good pull on the breaker bar before she started to move.
Good luck !!!!

 

Grinding the sides of the wrench is for to get it in the hole with the plug correct?

 

Correct, the hole is just big enough for a 19mm wrench to fit. I did not want to open up the hole and open a can of worms.

 

Thanks for that Paul. Is there any chance of using that technique but going through the hole closest to the big bolt? I take it we are talking about the same largest of the three bolts. Also thanks for the point to this post too.

 

So I have decided to remove the carpet and approach via th top. My logic behind this is so that I have access to the nut to weld it back into place. I will hope to get in tomorrow and possibly take a photo.

 

Sounds like a plan I did the wrench (spanner)as I am lazy and didn`t want to remove the carpet cut holes in the floor weld the nut and then have to patch the hole to prevent water ingress.
Plus now i have the wrench (only took me about an hour to make) its easy to remove the bolt, the nut is still retained in place.
Did you follow the link on post #2 above? This shows pictures of cutting the hole as you are planning to do.

good luck !!!

 

I did Paul. I was thinking I could also do with removing the drivers seat to give it a really good wash too. It is somewhat grimy. I love your idea though. It is brilliant. LUCKily though I have a welding kit. Looking forward to doing this job.

 

Hold on, the seat doesn't need to come out at all. It is so far away from the welding point. All I need is dry weather.

 

OK so I removed the carpet as much as to clear a view point. Cut through the sound deadening. Removed the anti vibration panel of bitumen like stuff from the area and hey prest , a grill . I will cut through the prongs closest to me and then weld that nut back on. I hope this photo adds to this excellent post.



Clip of grill. Make sure you cut enough off metal away so not to interfere with the mig welding.

 

Ok, so it happened. I was dreading having to drop the subframe for exactly this reason but there is absolutely no way to remove the swaybar without dropping the subframe. Sure enough my nightmare came true...

I'm going to attempt Paulc's bent wrench idea first tonight and if that doesn't work I'm going to open up the front hole closest to the outside of the car enough to get a wrench on it and eventually have a patch welded in to fill my entry point.

 

Seriously a very good idea with the wrench, it worked great! Front sway bar is in. Have a few things to button up but otherwise the jag is back on all fours finally. Ran into a couple speedbumps along the rebuild road but worth every struggle. I can't wait to feel the difference with the polyurethane bushings everywhere and the new sway bars!!!

 

Nice one glad to hear it worked for you.

Let me know how the polyurethane bushings work thinking of doing that upgrade this summer.

 

I sure will. Fitting the flares this weekend. I was going to wait a month or so to do the flares but figured screw it, I might as well finish it to the vision I've had all winter, flares are just sitting there anyways...

 

Front, rear and side pics PLEEEEASE!!!