John Hobson wrote:
> I started on my front suspension overhaul project today and succeeded in
> removing the lower wishbone, sanding it down and painting it with
> hammerite, which I later found out is a bugger to get off your hands!
> Mental note: next time wear gloves...
Try Xylene, I think they sell thinners specially for Hammerite.
>
>
> The reason I have not got any further with the project is that two of the
> bolts holding the top of the shock absorber in place had previously been
> totally rounded off and that's where I got a bit stuck. Do any of you
> have any good ideas as to how I can remove them?
Had the same problem, Ended up part Hacksawing, part drilling the nut.
Removed the plate without too much damage to the threads, but I thought it
wasn't worth keeping, as the replacement was fairly cheap..
> I am happy to consign
> the shock top plate as toast, but if I could preserve it I would like to.
> I thought about sawing the nut off but there doesn't seem to be quite
> enough space to do this. I always seem to come up against this problem
> when undertaking projects, it's very frustrating and puts me off a bit in
> trying my hand at more stuff.
>
Best way to tackle these problems is to do a bit every evening. Often the best
aid to removing a corroded fixing is to spend a day thinking about, and then
vent all your pent up frustrations from work on the bolt using a big hammer and
an angle grinder!!
>
> Also is there any alternative to ball joint extractors or will I have to
> buy one of these to remove the ball joints from the upper wishbone and
> ends of the steering rack?
undo the nut holding the track rod end to the steering arm just enough so that
it protects the top of the thread, and then Whack it hard with a lump hammer...
Remember to replace the nut with a new one on reassembly
>
>
> What size drill bit should I use to drill out the old bushings? A really
> big one that would drill most of the rubber, or one that is a little
> bigger than the metal insert?
I just burnt them out with a blow torch, the sleeves and bushes slipped out
easily. Just make sure you do it outside, lots of black smoke!
>
>
> This is the first big job that I have done on my car so almost everything
> that I do is new to me, I'm sure that once I have done a lot of these
> jobs once a lot of it will become second nature and I will know how to
> resolve problems that I come across more easily.
>
Front suspension rebuild is certainly a good start, and replacing the bushes
with everlasting polyurethane makes a huge difference to the way the front end
handles!!
Cheers
Tim
>
--
Tim Dafforn
University of Cambridge
Structural Medicine Unit
Cambridge Institute for Medical Research
Hills Rd, Cambridge CB2 2XY.
UK
Tel. (01223) 763230
Fax. (01223) 336827
http://smokeroom.cimr.cam.ac.uk/
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