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throwing in the towel (I think) snapped BJ pinch bolt Outback Legacy


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Went to replace the right ball joint and the bolt moved about an 1/8th of an inche and the head snapped off.... I drilled into the bolt and went to drill the right size extractor into the bolt and the extractor snapped off inside the bolt. At this point I'm pretty ticked off, a simple job that turned into a big PITA. Thinking about just having a garage take it from here, I hate having other people touch my vehicles especially ones that charge out the butt but I've had enough and feels like I'm out of options. The car is due for inspection so it needs done ASAP, anyone local to Centre Hall,PA want to help in removing this? Lol.... Any advice for this situation? The extractor isn't easy to drill into like the bolt.

????

2000 Outback Legacy.

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Start drilling from the opposite side. Then use a punch to drive the snapped extractor out of the bolt. Then go up in drill size and clear the whole bolt out of there, get a longer bolt and nut combo to replace it. If you've drilled off center, drill as big as you can go without hogging the hole out in the knuckle, then use a punch or chisel to drive the remains of the bolt sideways into your hole and then out. You can also use a cut-off wheel to go in through the slit in the knuckle to cut the bolt in half, then you only have to drill the threaded side out.

 

You've learned the harsh lesson of bolt extractors, they never work on a bolt you snapped the head off of trying to loosen. They will work on bolts you snap the heads off of trying to tighten, and they sometimes work on stuck bolts if you heat the bolt glowing hot with a torch before trying to extract it. But mostly they're just a waste of time and a much bigger aggravation if you snap them off in the hole.

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It's pretty common on the rust belt soobs. I knew I was going to have that issue. The advice I saw on here that I did was to just drill out the entire bolt hole, then put as large and strong a bolt as will fit through that hole and two nuts on the end. It's not perfect but it seemed plenty adequate to keep the pinch shut. The main issue I had was you have to then make sure all the threads/material that might be blocking the ball joint from coming out are out else it won't budge no matter how much force you put on it and it won't be obvious what the problem is. The biggest issue I had was when drilling it out the bit caught in the hole, then the cordless drill hit me in the face and pushed my head into something sharp under the car, that hurt.

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+1 on drill from the back side. You can drill with a smaller bit, and hope it catches, that will drive it out. Otherwise, go up in size to just inside the threads. Then clean the threads with a tap. Use some antisieze going back together. Try to help out the poor schmoe who will hafta do it next time, cuz it'll probably be YOU!

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Good advice fellas! I was considering going in from the other way but then didn't want to screw up the threads (went to Subi dealer today for new bolts) but putting in a larger and longer bolt wouldn't be a bad thing! It sure beats the price of a new knuckle. And yeah I'll be the guy fixing it next time, getting the woman a newer Subi and going to DD this thing until it decides to quit or rusts away, it's at 229k so far. Thanks for the tips!

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Hey I just dealt with this on my subi and my friends. Both of them snapped off. I tried drilling  one out but got off center so I said F it and replaced the knuckle with a junk yard one. On my car it snapped and the CV axle got stuck in it so I just replaced that knuckle too. It's a pretty damn easy job. I have had one drilled thru and put a nut on it and it was good. One thing to note if you are doing this is to make sure you get the old bolt drilled out on center because not only does that pinch bolt pinch the BJ but it also sits inside that groove on the BJ and it holds it in place, so if you are off center it you wont catch the groove.

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If you have a Harbor Freight in your area go pick up a set of left hand drill bits to use on broken bolts and screws.  I have a set and have used them more than I would believe.  The broken bolt may come out and it may not if it is frozen into the threads but you never know, they have surprised me at times at the bolts and studs that they will pull out once they get a bite into the metal.  I have even used them on plastic bolts that have broken.  And at only $8.00 you won't be out that much if they don't pull the bolt out and only drill through it. 

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/left-hand-drill-bit-set-13-pc-61686.html

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i've probably posted 10 times not to ever touch the ball joint and don't use extractors for situations like this.  should have read one of my prior posts.

 

drill it all out and use a bolt/nut.  it's done all the time around here, i've seen lots of subarus with it. 

 

1.  never touch a ball joint in the rust belt unless the boot is broken.  pulling a rusty ball joint for a axle or strut job is masochism.

 

2.  throw away bolt extractors - or never use them on rusty subarus.  if it comes out with a bolt extractor there's another easier, simpler, and less risky method.  bolt extractors suck except in pristine, controlled machine shop style environments or working on easy stuff. 

 

3.  i've never seen cheap left handed bits able to drill through the hardened fasteners that Subarus use - the cheap set i have has never even put a divot in a bolt.  were you able to get any penetration on a Subaru hardened fastener - one of the 8.8 or whatever grade they are bolts?

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I have used them on a couple of grade 8 bolts.  The secret is to use a slow speed on a variable speed drill and use some lubricant.  If you can use a center punch to start on the broken bolt then the drills should be able to bite into it. 

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Well I got the bolt out this morning. I drilled from the threaded end into the split and then used a punch and beat the bolt out. The BJ is changed, and the Muffler is done. I have never worked on a vehicle that caused so much headache just to change out a bj but then again I'm used to working on trucks and I swear they're easier to work on lol. Thank you all for the helpful suggestions.

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Well I got the bolt out this morning. I drilled from the threaded end into the split and then used a punch and beat the bolt out. The BJ is changed, and the Muffler is done. I have never worked on a vehicle that caused so much headache just to change out a bj but then again I'm used to working on trucks and I swear they're easier to work on lol. Thank you all for the helpful suggestions.

 

nice hit, great!

 

Subaru ball joints are awful nasty.

get a truck running through northeast brine daily for many years, parking over grass for years and it'll have lots of headaches too.  

maybe trucks have a slight advantage of more parts further away from the ground/chemicals?  but they can be a bear too. 

 

 

I have used them on a couple of grade 8 bolts.  The secret is to use a slow speed on a variable speed drill and use some lubricant.  If you can use a center punch to start on the broken bolt then the drills should be able to bite into it. 

 

okay, i won't loose all hope. 

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I should of said that I have used them on a grade 8 stud and not a bolt.  I don't know what it would take to snap a bolt head off of a grade 8 bolt and don't want to find out.  The studs were sheared off even with the block of metal that they were in..  I ground them down flat with a Dremel tool and then center punched them to get them out.  Once the drill bit got a bite into the stud they started to come out.  As I said low speeds and a lot of lubricant. 

Edited by jp98
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  • 2 months later...

I have seen an extractor work exactly once. It was a 'newer' type from NAPA that looks like a deeply fluted torx bit.

 

Looked similar to these:9094271_2000x2000.jpg

 

 

Using an extractor is usually like saying 'instead of having to drill this hard piece of bolt, I'd really like to deal with something that can't be drilled'.

 

I have done both my ball joints in my sube, I know 100% if I did not have an acetylene/oxy torch, they would have broken, even though I cleaned them and doused them with freeing oil for weeks.

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Same boat here. Left front siezed CV axle in the hub. Bent my 20-ton press trying to push it out, ended up drilling out the axle bit by bit and pressed the remainder finally (barely). In the course of it tore the BJ boot so had to do that too, also broke the bolt off but didn't break the extractor. Drilled from one end then the other then a carbide bit in the dremel to hog it out to the threads, once I got to the threads they just popped out. It sounds easy but the whole ordreal took 3 days in my moderately well equipped garage. I also replaced the wheel bearing because it was a bit grumbly after bending a 20-ton press on it so that corners all new except the brakes.

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Went to replace the right ball joint and the bolt moved about an 1/8th of an inche and the head snapped off.... I drilled into the bolt and went to drill the right size extractor into the bolt and the extractor snapped off inside the bolt. At this point I'm pretty ticked off, a simple job that turned into a big PITA. Thinking about just having a garage take it from here, I hate having other people touch my vehicles especially ones that charge out the butt but I've had enough and feels like I'm out of options. The car is due for inspection so it needs done ASAP, anyone local to Centre Hall,PA want to help in removing this? Lol.... Any advice for this situation? The extractor isn't easy to drill into like the bolt. 2000 Outback Legacy.

 

I know I'm way late ....

 

If the bolt doesn't initially move with normal pressure, predrill with a .125 bit the thread end of the pinch bolt from the back side, about an inch deep. This seems to reduce the thread pressure and it breaks loose pretty easily. 

 

This has worked for me a couple of times, but then I also am (was) clueless about spark plugs.

Edited by uniberp
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I had really good luck with just drilling the bolt out, without using a extractor. just keep bumping up the sizes, and go slow, it'll take a while, but in my case the last drill bit before I was going to gack the threads grabbed what was left of the bolt and spun it out. I cleaned the threads and got a longer bolt with a nut, been great for almost 6 months now.

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  • 2 years later...
On ‎4‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 5:22 PM, uniberp said:

 

 

If the bolt doesn't initially move with normal pressure, predrill with a .125 bit the thread end of the pinch bolt from the back side, about an inch deep. This seems to reduce the thread pressure and it breaks loose pretty easily. 

 

2000 outback .  Doing the front driver ball joint and tie rod .

Pinch bolt isn't moving.  Im afraid to snap it off..     So im going to use this method that uniberp stated.  I think im also going to  heat  up that end of the knuckle (the thread side) with a propane torch and get it hot.  Suggestions appreciated.   Bolt seems really stuck and I want to do this right so I don't run into a rounded head or snapped bolt

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When replacing a Legacy BJ I slather the bolt with anti-seize and also paint some into the female threads with a small brush.  I also pack enough chassis grease into the  BJ pocket so that it squishes out of the slot when I insert and tighten the BJ, then wipe off the excess.   My goal is to fill with grease all the cavities that might hold salty water. With that approach  I've found that years later the BJ is still easy to remove and find no evidence of rust.  Our Rust Belt is an exceptionally nasty environment. My son brought me a 96 legacy from Wyoming - many dents underneath from the back country roads but not a spec of rust and every bolt came out clean.  Wyoming certainly has Winters, but they don't use road salt...

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I prefer hand tools for rusty ball joint pinch bolts and exhaust.  You probably already have the following but - 6 point, non-cheap (can be sloppy fitting) socket.  Rub some grinding compound into the socket to help give it some bite and maybe take up small Slack between the socket and bolt head if it’s loose or rusty.

You know how “12 mm bolts” in the rust belt are really like 11.5mm bolts?  Eyeroll!

They frequently shear no matter what.  Propane is better than nothing but for the worst bolt on the vehicle (ball joint),  not hot enough for higher temps and ideal gradient.   

 

 

 

 

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