Just started to take things apart in the front end to re do all bushings and ball joints, when I got the drivers side end link off the sway bar I was inspecting the bolt and it is bent. I verified by rolling it on a glass table. Any one know of a good place to find replacements that ship
fast? I found two on eBay but take a month to
ship, I don’t wanna wait that long. I wire brushed the head of the bolt and it’s marked with “atlas m 8.8” original part number I found for the bolt is “fb110171j” . Could I just get a flanged bolt of 8.8 grade zinc coated same dia and length at ace hardware and move on? Any thoughts welcome. I’ll toss in a few pics of why I’m doing all of this, for anyone who needs a giggle or a cringe or is wondering why they hear a “clunk” sound hitting bumps….

 

Any 8.8 bolts with the same proportions will be fine.
Those isolation mounts are really bad. Are they the originals? How many miles has the car done?
Richard

 

As far as I know they are originals. It’s a 97 xk8 69000 mi. I’ve been updating everything I can, replaced original timing chains tensioners and guides, I still have the nikisil lined motor but it’s doing just fine. I even replaced the original fuel filter when I got it lol. I have new billestin shocks and mount bushings from PHOBMAN to go in, as well as tie rod end, all control arm bushings, and upper and lower ball joints, now I just need to get new bearings.

 

The same year as my XK8. I believe that the original isolation mounts usually last longer than 69k but I agree that yours are definitely living on borrowed time.

Mine is also an original Nikasil motor but it uses virtually no oil between oil changes even at 85k miles. The rear wheel bearing are original but my front bearings gave up the ghost around 40k which was very disappointing. Changing the fronts is not easy although if you could buy a complete hub with the bearings already installed it would be a lot easier. However, at least in the UK, I don't think that is possible.

I changed the gearbox fluid at around 75k but even that was in pretty good condition. I changed the differential oil at the same time and that was in terrible condition and well overdue.

Richard

 

Yeah I just did my trans fluid and filter change last week, it wasn’t the worst I’ve seen but I got more fluid on the way to flush it again, I also painted the pan and installed the trans go pressure regulator valve while in there. I did the rear diff oil change last fall and that was seriously overdue, I went with the hole in the trunk method and made a sheet metal cover to block the hole afterward along with sealant.

I’m thinking the front bearings won’t be too bad as I will have ithe hub completely out unattached to anything, and I’ll be picking up a 20 ton shop press soon for my business so it should make easy work of pressing out and pressing in new ones, as well as the ball joints which look like they are going to put up a fight to come out, especially that lower one with the angled end on the arm. I saw some posts about what other guys did and I’ll be coming up with something to do it, what exactly that is I don’t yet know… but I’ll be crossing that road real soon

 

I fitted my lower ball joint by fabricating a crude cradle out of a piece of pine post to hold the arm. I froze the ball joint overnight and heated up the eye of the arm then used a press tool to hammer the ball joint home. Worked a treat.

 

So getting deeper into removing all the suspension components I hit a snag I didn’t expect… the front lower rearward control arm bolt doesn’t come out unless entire tie rod is removed apparently. Seems silly to me if they put the bolt in from front to back and the nut near the tie rod this would not happen….there’s probably a very good reason for doing it this way. I spent a good bit of time trying to get the inner tie rod boot clip undone, (I know the right way these work and ARE reusable if removed properly due to a crash course with these type of clamps on my x-type) but the position of it left me no choice but to bend it a little bit to get it un clipped but I think it’s still useable if I bend it back. However gave up for the night/morning and it’s just the tie rod and that one bolt and lower arm will be off. Then the two torx that hold both lower arms together because I didn’t have a t-60. I did end up getting new sway bar end link bolts, flanged 8.8 grade but my replacements aren’t zinc coated, I’m going to check another hardware store for the right nuts, I couldn’t find flanged lock nuts at the store I went to.

 

I managed to withdraw those bolts by turning the steering all the way to one side. This allowed me to compress the rack boot enough to remove the bolt.

 

^^ Agreed.

You shouldn't have to remove the tie rod. Some have managed as Redjags and just moved the steering hard over. I removed the clip, pushed the bellows aside and out came the LCA bolt.

The clip part # is JLM20684 if you need to replace it.

 

Hey guys thanks, before I saw the last two posts I sat and stared at it for a few minutes thinking removing inner tie rod or dropping rack seemed a little bit silly for removal of this one bolt and there had to be a better way or I was missing or overlooking something. Then I starting thinking if I could just get that larger part of steering shaft out of the way a little the bolt will come right out. Then like as if a bolt of lightning just hit me I had a sudden realization that the shaft DOES MOVE I just need to turn the wheel!(duuuhhhh!) welp, guess I overthought the process and it worked like a charm, no need to remove anything else.

I ordered up a set of Timken bearings for the fronts but now I need to source up the tool for removing the abs gear. They are pretty pricy from what I’ve found, absolute cheapest one I found was about 100 bucks. Anyone know of a cheaper source? If so let me know, thanks again for all the help and suggestions, I’ll post some pics of things when I get a little farther along.

 

Regarding the ABS tool, some people have had success using a large 12 point socket. I can't remember the exact size but if you do a search on this forum, you should find it. I haven't done the bearings yet but I filed this one away for future use, no doubt. Good luck!

 

You'll also probably need heavy duty ball joint splitter, a length of scaffolding tube to extend your breaker bar and a hot gas torch to use with your press. I managed to borrow the torch and the ABS tool.

Richard