Great Snapped Bolt on Control Arm! Now what?!?!

[dwendt1978]

I heated up the back control arm bolts and shot it with some PB Blaster. I didn't heat it to the point of being red just got it hot and sprayed it.

Possibly my fault as I let it sit about 1 minute. Damn it sometimes I do stupid things. So what is my best bet to get this thing out? It's the back bolt closest to the shifter of the car. It was actually moving when I snapped it.

Should've heated (don't know how much) sprayed with PB Blaster and let sit overnight. Here's a pic. Hopefully someone has run into this before and was able to fix it.

[G.A.S.]

Looks like your in a good spot to drill this out.
take a center punch and find center fo the bolt and give a light tap. now look over where the indentation is, if it is not center move the punch and do it again. once you feel you have center, give the punch a good smack and leave a heavy indentation.
Drill it out in stages steping up on drill bit size untill you are close without getting into the threads.
Take your tourtch and blow out the remaining bolt in one spot, say at the three oclock position. Heat it till red and just a bump the oxy. then you should be able to dig it out with a small punch or drift. Or blow out the 9 oclock position as well
If you dont want to tourtch it, drill it and tap it.
Blowing it out is not that hard.
I myself would just blow out the bolt without drilling a hole.
comes with age .

[dwendt1978]

Ok. Sounds like I'm not screwed. Called my brother-in-law and he has a ton of extractor's and what not.
His idea was to drill it and try an easy out. Said if that doesn't work, don't want to put so much force you break the easy out that we'd try drilling it out and going to a heli-coil.?.?

So your idea is drill it out until just before the threads and torch it out the rest and pick it out right?

I only have a small Bernzomatic MAPP gas torch.

I think I was too impatient with heat and oil. Should've let it sit a lot longer.

[dwendt1978]

Well, scrap that idea. The easy out snapped that welded in nut that the bolt goes through.

Only thing I can think of now is to cut that piece out, weld in a piece of 1/4 inch steel stock in behind it, weld it back in and drill and tap it.

It doesn't go through to the floor pan so cutting the floor pan to get to it won't work either.

Boy, I don't know what I'm gonna do now. If I welded the bracket without the bolt then I'd never be able to fix it if it broke again.

[shortcircuit]

Can't help you with that bolt nice pic,man pics really help can't say that enough.I just did my control arms a while back before winter hit.They were in horendous shape were peeling the tires right off.

When shifting they were clunking [i have an auto] at every shift from all that torque .When you do get the bolts out and are whacking them off use BIG HAMMER and be prepared for a lot of effort there.What i found when was putting new on they wouldn't fit and was kinda dark under there diddn't have a light on.I finally realized the inner sleeves were still stuck on there.After much heating with a mapps torch,PBS Blaster and good vice grips was finally able to get the sleeves stuck on there moving and off.

Made all the difference in the ride,good luck with that.

Regards,

shortcircuit

[Headnsouth]

The only suggestion at this point is to maybe get a piece tac welded to the easy out and back it out. Keeping your fingers x wouldn't hurt either.
If you get the easy out drill out as much of the bolt as possible and soak it in PB.

[dwendt1978]

Well, there's nothing but a hole now. So I'm going to cut the frame rail out and weld in some steel. Only option I have I think.

I'm going to document everything with my camera too. So I can post pics and explain how I fixed it.

THIS CAR WILL BE REPAIRED!!!! I'll record everything so if anyone else runs into this problem they will know what to do.

Input is still suggested on how to fix. Behind the frame is a welded in place nut that holds your bolt in. This welded nut broke free and now all I have is a frame left. Nothing to put the bolt into.

[dwendt1978]

I have to get an air compressor and get it up and running. An impact might have been a better choice as it vibrates the bolt vs. a breaker bar with constant torque.

Dang it I hate not having an air compressor.

[dwendt1978]

This is the idea so far.
Cut out the area in red with a dremel tool or something.
Slide in a washer and nut behind it, and tighten down the bolt to new nut and then weld back in the piece of the frame.

Only thing I can think of.

[Crvett69]

might be better off drilling about a 1" hole in the floor right above the broken bolt, pull it out, stick a nut in there and hold it with a socket while you tighten the bolt or tack weld in in place then stick a rubber plug in floor to seal hole

[hot_sd]

Sorry to hear of the problems. An impact is useful to have. You can get an electric one if you do not want to buy a compressor. Having said that the electric ones are limited in terms of torque. To go to higher torque you will need air. I have an 240ft-lb electric as well as a 600ft-lb air although I've only probably used the air impact once.

A compressor is definitely useful so if you plan to buy one make sure you get one with enough capcity to serve your needs. Don;t forget to check the max air pressure (PSI) and air flow capacity (CFM) and make sure they match with the tools you are planning to use.

Repeated hammering can definnitely help. I was removing the driveshift on the metro a while back and just could not get it off with a breaker, heat, oil, hammer etc. Switched to impact and hammered for about 10 secs and it then popped out.

[G.A.S.]

that will work, been there, done that.
Use a coat hanger or small peice of bailing wire and wrap it arround the nut and go fishing for the bolt. Of course dont cover the hole, wrap it arround the sides of the nut and twist the wire tight.
Now you have a hold of the nut to help get it started.
a cut off disc on a 4" grinder works wounders too. for the axcess hole.

[G.A.S.]

The more I look at that, You have a welder.
Cut out the white part arround the nut, take a new piece of patch metal, drill a hole in it and weld a nut to the back of it and weld the patch back on the car.

[dwendt1978]

Corvtte69,

I first tried your idea of going through the floorboard. But somehow that nut is in farther than the floor board goes (it sits past the pedals) So if I cut it out I still wouldn't be able to get to it.

GAS,

Your idea is the one I'm pretty comfortable with. I thought about it last night on another way.

Cut a 1/8inch thick piece of steel (maybe thinner) about 3/4 inch wide by 2 inches long.

Drill a hole in it and weld a nut on it and cut the frame about where my picture shows. Slide it in there and hold it down with my finger as I tighten it down.

The length of it will allow it to catch on the frame when I can no longer hold it down anymore allowing it to tighten.
Once it's tightened, I'll drill some holes directly under where my bracket is and tack weld it down.

My fear of cutting out the actual white piece is that I won't be able to get it back in there very true. I'm a decent welder just not when lying on my back.
I know this is something can be fixed, it's just stressing the heck out of me right now.

[thenn3025]

Had the same thng happen to me. I just ended up drilling it out and tapping it with a size of non-metric tap that I had. Didn't trust it as i couldn't get it super tight. Put jack under the bracket and with the bolt as tight as possible, just welded the bracket to floor board. Been years now. If need to replace I can grind or torch the weld off. In your case I would just weld it to the floor and be done. You could even weld inside the bolt hole to the broken stud.