Helicoil thread repair to lower wishbone
#1
Helicoil thread repair to lower wishbone
While I was working under the car on other projects I noticed that one of the bolts to the lower spring pan wishbone had stripped its thread, don't know the reason but this was the result
006 by MyPix on Talk Photography
now this alone would be an MOT fail in the UK, and more than that I just could not ignore it before she went back on the road
after some head scratching, and I didn't want to drop the subframe to fully remove the lower wishbone I decided to fix it using a ' Helicoil '
this involved drilling out the bad thread, tapping the oversized hole to take a stainless steel insert , and then putting back an original sized bolt , a new one at that
below is how I did it , first of all is the comprehensive Helicoil style kit I bought to do the job
001 by MyPix on Talk Photography
these are the parts required to replace a 3/8 UNF thread , an oversized drill , a tap , an insertion tool , the helicoil and a snap off bar for the insertion tang on the helicoil
002 by MyPix on Talk Photography
the bad bolt removed and the drill sent in being careful to match the angles in the casting
007 by MyPix on Talk Photography
the tap being sent home one quarter of a turn at a time with some cutting compound on ( I use mollyslip thread cutting compound ) then turn back each time to clear the swarf from cutting a new thread
008 by MyPix on Talk Photography
this is then cleaned and then the helicoil insert is installed , and the tang broken off when all the way in
009 by MyPix on Talk Photography
then the new bolt is inserted gently finding the thread , so not to cross thread anything
010 by MyPix on Talk Photography
and then fully tightened pulling up the spring pan nice and tight
011 by MyPix on Talk Photography
all in all , it took about an hour taking it nice and slow ,
BB
006 by MyPix on Talk Photography
now this alone would be an MOT fail in the UK, and more than that I just could not ignore it before she went back on the road
after some head scratching, and I didn't want to drop the subframe to fully remove the lower wishbone I decided to fix it using a ' Helicoil '
this involved drilling out the bad thread, tapping the oversized hole to take a stainless steel insert , and then putting back an original sized bolt , a new one at that
below is how I did it , first of all is the comprehensive Helicoil style kit I bought to do the job
001 by MyPix on Talk Photography
these are the parts required to replace a 3/8 UNF thread , an oversized drill , a tap , an insertion tool , the helicoil and a snap off bar for the insertion tang on the helicoil
002 by MyPix on Talk Photography
the bad bolt removed and the drill sent in being careful to match the angles in the casting
007 by MyPix on Talk Photography
the tap being sent home one quarter of a turn at a time with some cutting compound on ( I use mollyslip thread cutting compound ) then turn back each time to clear the swarf from cutting a new thread
008 by MyPix on Talk Photography
this is then cleaned and then the helicoil insert is installed , and the tang broken off when all the way in
009 by MyPix on Talk Photography
then the new bolt is inserted gently finding the thread , so not to cross thread anything
010 by MyPix on Talk Photography
and then fully tightened pulling up the spring pan nice and tight
011 by MyPix on Talk Photography
all in all , it took about an hour taking it nice and slow ,
BB
The following 3 users liked this post by Brake buster:
#3
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Comox Valley, British Columbia
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ronbros (02-01-2015)
#4
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Austin tx and Daytona FL.
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i have used Helicoils at times for iron/steel thread repair.
but for aluminum or soft metals i have had bad experiences,like pulling loose .
my personal preference today are the actual steel thread insert,a one piece design that is much stronger than a coil of wire!
close to the same labor and cost.
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Bc xj (02-01-2015)
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