Very clever.

I understand that the stud is still rather firmly GRABBED into the hole of the steering arm, right? So with that in mind, and understanding that this siezed bolt actually broke the head off due to the GRAB it has, I dont believe any "Easyout" or whatever is going to be strong enough to rotate that stud without breaking.

To drill that stud out to almost the diameter of the threads and then carefully chisel the thin remaining section into a collapsed state, and allowing it to fall out is scary at best.

2nd choice, sacrifice that arm, cut it it up with the angle grinder until there is a small enough bit left stuck on the stud and then simply screw it out, remaining arm and all.

Contact Grubloggers for an arm and bolt, job done.

 

Hi Grant

Thanks for your good advice.

I have got a Spare Steering Arm on my 'Scrapper' so I thought as part of a back up Plan, I would see if I could loosen off the Bolts.

The Top Two, undid easy but the Bottom one is Stuck Fast, exactly the same as on the Car that I am working on!

Bummer!

 

OB
WoOZ dead right. Do not, say I, drill out the stud any more. Once the arm is cut off, you will need a strong shaft on the stud to unscrew it. Just grind a couple of flats on it once the arm is cut off, and it will come out with the moles or a decent spanner. Too weak and it twists off and then you will have a whole extra set of tasks to do!

Greg

 

Hi Greg

Unfortunately, I got your message a little bit too late as I was working in the Garage at the time.

I drilled a hole for the biggest 'easy out' that would go in but it just made things even worse, as it expanded the hole that I drilled in the Stud and locked it in place so tight that it won't move.

So if I ever get the Arm off, by whatever means, I reckon the Stud is now weakened so much, that it will just twist off.

Hey ho! another day in the life of an XJS owner.

 

While I can understand your approach (I too simply hate being beaten by anything mechanical) I have to ask again. What price is a replacement upright over there?

 

Cheap and easily available. As are steering arms. The upright being far more trouble to replace than the arm, as no doubt you know. In my view, OB now has to cut off the arm and see if the ruined stud will come out. If (when) it doesn't, then:

Source an arm and an upright
remove spring
disconnect ARB drop arm
separate ball joint top and bottom
remove upright and see if the ruined stud will come out
if not fit replacement upright (good idea to fit a new stub axle while you have it all apart, OB)
reassemble all with new ball joints (might as well put new bits in)
refit hub, caliper, arm etc
replace spring
bleed brakes
Get front tracked up.

Sorry OB, but let's hope the stud does come out once the arm is cut off!
We have all been and done something like this, all part of the fun!

Greg

 

Hi Baxtor

'What Greg Said'

 

And there was me thinking that trying to do a 'Rubic Cube' was hard.

 

If you have enough room to get a drill to it, try using a left handed bit. Put penetrating oil on the remains and let it sit a bit. Then after center punching the broken bolt, use the left handed bit (you need a reversible drill). I have found that the heat and vibration from the drilling will often break the broken bolt free and it will just back out as you drill.

 

It's really not that simple, as the bolt passes through the Steering Arm, then the Caliper and then finally the upright.

So the Bolt is held fast in two places.

If it was only held in one place, I might be able to do it but I can't even get a hacksaw blade in to try and cut the bolt through.

So it looks like I will have to cut the steering arm, close to the bolt, as was suggested by 'Greg in France' who's advice I should have followed in the first place.

 

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum and having recently purchased a V12 convertible set about work changing the front pads. Just like Orangeblossom managed to snap the head off the lower calliper bolt. Would love to know the outcome, as I now to have what seems a major problem to overcome.

 

The problem is that the bolt has corroded into the steering arm (it is not threaded in this part) and thence it goes though the caliper (also not threaded and then it is threaded into the upright (hub carrier).

The problem is that the surface area of the first unthreaded hole nearest the bolt head (the steering arm) is considerable (more than a square inch I think) and it is gripping the unthreaded shank of the bolt.

OB has this problem, and I have had it. The next problem is that the hardware in the way prevents you from moving the arm much side to side, even if the other arm securing bolt is undone. Even if you do manage to turn the arm about 5 mins in each direction, it will be turning the bolt in the threaded part, NOT loosening the grip of the steering arm on the bolt shank. The only sure solution that is guaranteed to work and not make a bad situation worse, is as follows:

Obtain replacement steering arm from breaker
CAREFULLY cut down the edge of the steering arm hole that has the broken bolt in it. This will release the grip of the hole on the arm and allow you to remove it.
Then you have the bolt shank sticking out. Pull the caliper off it. Then grind a flat each side of the shank and after spraying for a couple of days with penetrant, unscrew it from the upright.

Greg

 

Hi Welcome to the Forum

It looks as though you might have to do what I should have done and followed the advice of Grant and Greg.

By cutting through the Steering Arm, with an Angle Grinder and then obtaining a secondhand one from a breakers.

Then get the broken stud out only this time using some heat, which again I should have done in the first place.

Although before you do any of that, keep soaking the Stud in 'The Mixture'@Greg in France.

50/50 ATF and Acetone.

In any event good luck you are going to need it!

When you put in the new brake pads, do not even be Tempted, to try and lever the Pistons back into the Calipers, without undoing the Bleed Nipples first.

As any contaminated Fluid being pushed the wrong way up the system, can easily Wreck the Master Cylinder Actuator.

Any spare parts to fix that are virtually unobtainable.

 

I think you will have to take the whole stub axel carrier off with all attached and get it onto an engineer shop place a jack under the spring pan and and remove the ball joint nuts lower shock mounting track rod end and brake pipe, or you can halve the caliper if the lower one undoes

 

Thanks for the quick replies, I'm sure you advice will save me some time. I forgot to mention that the reason I was removing the calliper was because one of the pistons had seized. Luckily I had undone the bleed screw before pushing the other pistons back.


Once the arm is cut off will the calliper slide over the remainder of the broken bolt to remove it or will I have to split the calliper (that will not matter as I will be getting a refurb unit)?

 

The caliper will come off once the bolt shank is undone. That is the reason for cutting the arm downwards, down the hole, carefully. If you were to cut the arm crosswise, and thus cut off the bolt too, you would be left with no bolt shank to turn as it would be level with the caliper fixing hole. The bolt shank WILL unscrew once the arm is out of the way and you have soaked the threads in the mixture that Orangeblossom mentioned..

Greg

 

Remember to not just undo the bleed nipple but also to clamp the flexi-hose. Undoing the bleed nipple alone will NOT stop fluid bring pressed back to the ABS valve block. Jaguar realised the danger as far back as 1998 and issued an update Service Bulletin with the revised procedure.

Good luck with the seized bolt.

Paul

 

Paul,
I should have thought of that, but didn't do it. As the updated bulletin was almost 10 years after my car was manufactured, I hope that it only damages the ABS valve block on rare occasions, otherwise my ambitions are going to fade rapidly.
Thanks for the advice though, it should come in useful when I tackle the other side.

 

Weld a nut onto the broken part of the bolt. The heat from the welding helps loosen the remains of the bolt, and by carefully rotating the bolt back and forth, you will break it's grip.
In a past life, I used to work on old 4WD's for a living and this sort of thing was common with bolts into chassis rails etc. I also used to use a rattle gun with the air pressure turned right down to "tap" the seized bolts left and right to help loosen them.
Works every time.

 

Typhoon beat me to it. Get a nut with an inner diameter slightly smaller than your original bolt so you do not end up welding to the steering arm and use a wire welder (under $100 at harbor freight) weld the nut to the remains of the bolt. Now you have something to get a wrench on and the heat will help release the bolt from the steering arm. If that is not enough, for about $30 at your local hardware store, you can purchase a small propane/oxygen torch that will heat up the steering arm and help release the bolt.