When a bolt breaks....

[r4esh]

I just did a suspension overhaul... lowered my 24 valve swapped e30 on some H&R race springs... larger sways, the whole works.

As I was putting the "lollipop" arms, that hold the control arm up, back on, the outside bolt out of the two wasn't going in easy. I thought the bolt looked a little "roughed up" so I went to Ace and bought a brand M8 grade bolt. I got back to thread it and it was still tough... but not too tough, so I kept going. It was almost threaded all the way in to the bottom and got easier to thread so I went with it... needless to say just before the bolt is all the way in "SNAP".....

Now I have a bolt stuck broken off in the body of the car.... I know a few tricks to get it out, but what then? How should I go about re-threading it to make sure its a safe and secure?

Until then I can't test drive my new suspension!! argh!

[HarryPotter]

Holy shit that sucks, I'd just sell it.

[FredK]

The thing is, there isn't much meat to rethread or install a helicoil/keensert/time-sert, that that's what I'd try. Your other option is to cut and weld a new piece there, but that is WAY more complicated.

[abepark]

happened to me, buddy of mind took hours drilling it out/straight through the floor and just put a nut on the other side. (tucked under the rug so you can't see it) Really all you can do, unless the bolt comes out with an easy out.

[newman]

You can drill it out and use a threadsert, but one that big is probably going to require a pneumatic setting gun, which is gonna be pricey... Have to check the manufacturer's specs for the pull out strength, but it's probably pretty high...

mcmaster.com

item: 98560A521 that's for 3/8-24 they have metric ones as well

Next time you have a bolt that feels like it's hanging up, run a tap through it to clean it up.

[StereoInstaller1]

I cut a hole in the side of the framerail then welded a nut in place, then rewelded the framerail.

[StereoInstaller1]

Oh, hey wanted to add: drove my car with 3 lollipop bolts for about 2 years, maybe more. About 25,000 miles or so.

[M5wanaB]

you could also just weld the lollipop in place to the frame. next time you want to change the bushings you would just have to do it with the lollipop still attached to the car. But as said before try to use an easy out but dont force it. I have had an easy out break inside a bolt and there is no way to drill through that high carbon steel. then your really F***ed.

[Danny]

I just tapped it bigger and used a bigger bolt.

[r4esh]

'StereoInstaller1' - 3 bolts and it was okay? ... kinda scares me as I drive pretty hard. What does everyone else think of driving on just the 3 bolts?

'Danny' - I could just make it bigger / use bigger bolt... that would def require drilling the lollipop arm out a bit larger though to accommodate the larger bolt.

I may consider welding / tapping it... just might be difficult to weld in there...

[E30_fiend]

just roll with three. There is a race that comes out of the frame that the mounting arm sits in. As long as the one bolt is good and tight then you should be fine. The only way that it would break is where it meets the bushing. I think youll be fine

[StereoInstaller1]

I would rather drive on it that attempt a larger bolt. The locator dowels are the crucial part, and they must not suffer deformation.

Driving on 3 was fine, I don't drive all that hard. I generally only double the posted speed on corners, rarely do I triple it.

I did hit something though that damn near ripped that CAB almost off the car, th econtrol arm was hanging by the tip...so scary! I got super lucky.

[jlevie]

How to deal with this is largely determined by where the end of the bolt is. If close to the surface I'd weld a stub on it and back it out. If too deep for that I'd try an easy out. If the broken part of the blot can be removed, running a tap in will clear the threads for a new bolt, which is what should have been done initially. The last resort would be to drill out the bolt and use a Helicoil or Timesert.

If you don't have the skills and tools to do this yourself, flat bed the car to a shop and have the pros fix it.