I've seen a billion "I can't get the pinch bolt out" threads, but...

The tail/nut snapped off. Okay, lots of people do that, it seems. "No problem," I thought, "my drill bits drilled out my tie rod pinch bolt easily." They wouldn't touch this bolt, however.

Now for the stupid thing I did. I lost my temper and had the angry and not so bright idea of taking my dremel to cut the bolt in sections in the little slits, so I cut the front one. It didn't help anything but now I realize how retarded that idea was. I could have driven it to the shop but I might have to get it towed now unless I can figure it out here. Also, I don't have any air tools. At this point, all I can do is keep using SiliKroil and hope that I can twist it out eventually. The head of the bolt is on but I'm worried about it just breaking off.

What should I do?

 

edit.

 

Well, while you think of what to do next, spray more penetrating spray on there. For me, I ended up twisting the head of the bolt, but not enough to break it. I used an impact wrench and turned it left and right repeatedly to get it off. Heat would probably be a good option. I tried a propane torch, however, I dont think that heats fast enough, most recommend a settling torch. Another thing to consider is if you happen to be removing the lower arms also, remove those, then disconnect the upper arms from up top. This way you can just pull out the wheel carrier with upper arms still attached with the frozen pinch bolt. Then you can really beat the hell out of it with whatever you want, or you can take it to a machine shop and they could get that bolt out of there with little money and effort. Cutting the bolts into chunks wasnt really a bad idea as far as im concerned, that could release some tension and make it easier. Although, I guess turning the bolt from the head back and forth wont help the other pieces.

 

Take the whole suspension setup out of the wheel well and work on it out of the car......many believe this to be overkill, but had I not done this I would have run into the same issues you are having. I too cut the bolt between the slits and then had to drill the remaining pieces of bolt out. Took all of an hour to do both sides this way.

 

Got any drill bit recommendations? I am using a Ridgid brand cobalt coated set that made short work of my tie rod pinch bolt but they are hardly denting this.

 

I don't know if the bit I used was special in any particular way, it was a friend's bit I used at his house. I just kept at it and made damn sure I stayed straight to not make the whole oblong.

Try using a slightly smaller bit and try tapping the piece out.....it's not threaded so you shouldn't have too much trouble trying to loosen it up. I also hate to ask, but make sure that the bit you are using is sharp. I'm pretty sure, I used a new bit.......we snapped 2 in the course of other work.....

 

What Obnoxious said about taking the suspension out is one way of doing it. My mechanic did the same thing when he installed my coilovers. He would have torched the pinch bolt out but would sacrifice the rubber of the control arm.

 

Uhhm.. so your nut is still on, is that it? If you've managed to take it off, then just take a similar sized bolt, put it behind the pinch bolt, find a big sledgehammer and have a go at it. it's not like it's threaded in there.
I got both mine off at well under 10 minutes..
If you don't get the nut off I suggest you cut it off.

 

haha had the same problem when i first got my car and was changing my CAs. i tried drilling it out but the thing is so long you can't drill it straight free handed, unless you have mad skills lol. so i just bought a used spindle that had everything already on it. took the old CAs off the other end, detached everything from the old spindle and swapped in the new one. good thing the new one had a good wheel bearing. you could try map gas then twisting with the wrench. if all fails swap out the spindle and worry about the pinch bolt at another time when you can drill it out straight

 

Yeah, I have a MAPP torch and I decided to just replace the upper CAs so I'm going to torch the **** out of it. I tried hammering the tail end out and it broke off. I've been spraying it down a couple times a day with SiliKroil and it's basically staying wet between them so I have to think that it's probably helping.

I think the parts will be in tomorrow so I'll see if the SiliKroil worked then - else I'll probably take it all out. I drilled my tie rod end bolt out by hand, though that bolt is only half the length. My drill is pretty good, though - a Bosch 36v Li-Ion hammer drill.