Wishbone help/advice

polo-sib · Post by **polo-sib** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:33 pm

I emergency braked my wheels locked and I went into the curb

I managed not to bend anythin except the wishbone, I took the wheel off and I can see the wishbone and it's all bent up. I looked in the haynes manual, its held by 3 bolts by the ball joint and 2 bolts closer to the engine.

I need advice on taking it off, the 3 bolts by the balljoint are on a "13" wrench and the other two are on a "17" but they are on extremely tight.

Any advice on how to unbolt/untighten the heavily tightened bolts. Also I damaged one of the bolts on the "13"wrench when it slipped, any advice on how to get it out?

Any advice on the change would be great.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

dragon_green · Post by **dragon_green** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:53 am

-Spray the bolt in wd40. Tap it with the end of a spanner a few times to let the WD40 creep in. Leave it overnight

-Heat it up

-Use a breaker bar.

polo-sib · Post by **polo-sib** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:58 pm

Thanks for that, what do I do about the bolt with the broken edges, allowing practically no grip with a spanner?

randomage · Post by **randomage** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:14 pm

i had to replace my driver side wishbone a while back, they are a bugger!!! damaged bolt sounds like a problem, worst case scenario you have to get it drilled out and get a new one. even if you get it out without that much hassle, get a new one anyway. torque wrench maybe? try taking it to a local garage, they should have tools to sort that kinda problem.

polo-sib · Post by **polo-sib** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:43 pm

randomage wrote:i had to replace my driver side wishbone a while back, they are a bugger!!! damaged bolt sounds like a problem, worst case scenario you have to get it drilled out and get a new one. even if you get it out without that much hassle, get a new one anyway. torque wrench maybe? try taking it to a local garage, they should have tools to sort that kinda problem.

Drilling, i was hoping it wouldnt come to that. Would the dealers supply new bolts? Problem is its so bent back a 10min drive turned out to be a 10min burnout. So its undrivable, I'd end up killing the clutch just taking it garage if I tried to drive it now.

Any recommendation on how to drill it out as I've never done it before?

I put some WD40 on tonight, if the weather improves I'll try using a new long ass wrench I got tomorrow.

dragon_green · Post by **dragon_green** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:47 pm

randomage wrote:torque wrench maybe?

For undoing a rounded bolt? What?

randomage · Post by **randomage** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:48 pm

i dont know!! maybe a special wrench could do the job. the only other way i can think is drilling. (total novice on these things....)

polo-sib · Post by **polo-sib** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:40 pm

Thanks for the help i managed to grip the bolt finally. I noobed up abit turns out I was tightening it instead of loosening it as clockwise upside down is anti-clockwise

. I have successfully changed the wishbone, now all I need is tracking and a new clutch. Thanks for all the help