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Having unsuccessfully tried to undo the Trailing Arm Bolt at Rubber Doughnut end (UK Rust Bug!)
I thought I would try and undo the Arm at the end nearest the Cage and it was all going so well!
Undoing the Springs on the Drop Arm and knocking out the Pin was an absolute breeze, where all that I had left to do was undo ONE Nut and then take the Trailing Arm off
But of course it wasn't that Simple! (it's a Jag!)
As this Nut was like no other Nut that I have ever seen, as its only Half a Nut and does look OEM
Could I or should I undo it and if so how?
Any ideas!
Is it a Nut or is it a Bolt?
If I knew how to undo it I could undo the Trailing Arm from the Cage, without the use of a Hammer and Chisel at the Doughnut end
That is absolutely the factory bolt. The flat is so it can clear the tube the lower shaft goes through to attach the damper/spring assembly. Without the missing portion of the head you would not be able to insert the bolt.
Ideally, to remove rusted bolts like the one holding the large end of the arm, use an impact wrench. I have a cordless one made by Milwaukee that does 1400 ft-lbs and have never broken a bolt with it. Using a breaker bar or ratchet I have broken plenty of bolts. The impact seems to be able to get rusty bolts to move without breaking them.
OB
From memory it needs a 5/8ths ring spanner, and this is a must rather than using an open ender. It looks like you might have done so already in one of the pics, but you have to knock back the locking tabs. FWIW in all the cases I have tried, amazingly, the bolts comes undone quite easily. I don't think you can get a socket on it, and therefore not the famous rattle gun, but I may be wrong.
Cheers! I will come back on this later but we are expecting blinking Visitors to turn up and they couldn't have picked a worse time, as its nice and Sunny and I want to get on with the Jag and get the Cage out
But what is really freaking me out is that as of yet, no one has suggested cutting that bolt off with an Angle Grinder!
Would that be a good way to go?
As I think that I could very easily make another one, or would I just be sleepwalking into a 'Bear Trap'
Last edited by orangeblossom; 10-02-2019 at 11:41 AM.
The others have explained about the special head on that bolt with the cut-off side. However, even if you disconnect that bolt, I can't remember if it's possible to drop the cage past the arm with the other end still fixed to the body?
When I removed my cage, I just dropped the arms at the body end and admit that I didn't have a problem. Also, if you've got the arms off, it's a great time to renew the bushes and get some rustproofing done on that body mount which is a notorious water trap. So, I'd really suggest going back and getting the body end off by shocking with hammers or similar.
OB
Please do NOT cut that bolt-head off. If you do you will be stuck with an unremovable threaded bolt-shank in the end of the wishbone and then have to renew the wishbone/deal with that disaster.
If you whack off the other end, the cage will come out with the arms attached, and you have to do this anyway, too. You will be able to get the cage out with the arm undone from the wishbone end, but in any event those bushes are shot so you will have to get that bolt out to renew them anyway.
Just get the right ring sized spanner on the bolt and give it some grunt! All will be well.
Everything is undone now apart from the Trailing Arms and this is where I've started to run into problems
Because of the UK 'Rust Bug' I'm having a big problem in undoing the Bolt that holds the keeping strap of the (Big End) of the Trailing Arm and I'm scared of shearing it off
Although I can just about turn the Bolt in the middle of the Trailing Arm Bush (Big End) I'm also scared of shearing that off as well
So I took a look at the other end (Small End) and tried to undo that half nut but again I was very scared of shearing that off
(Doug) that half-nut, is the weirdest thing I've ever seen (so far)
I've also soaked these Nut in Oil and they still won't come undone
Perhaps I'll give them a try with the Rattle Wrench
You just must get that forward and of the arm off the body..somehow! Heat, levers, shock hammers, evenen wiggling the cage down from its mounts, a combination of all 4..
There are a variety of reasons to remove it, rust treatment of the body mount, Bush replacement / Arm replacement etc But imo, it HAS to be removed. Look at every pic of any of us removing the cage and you'll invariably see that its always the forward arm locations that have been removed.
When I took out the rear cage years ago those bolts holding the doughnut end of the trailing arm to the body put up a fight.
Tried everything, eventually got them free, one came out, the other turned a few times then sheared off.
I had to drill the rest of the bolt out using increasing diameter drill bits until I could pick out what was left from the threads in the body.
If you have to do this flatten off the end of the bolt and punch carefully in the center to start off the first drill bit.
It took a while lying on my back and I went though a few drill bits, the bolt was made of hard stuff.
Had to get the car up high enough up in the air on jack stands to get leave enough room to get the drill underneath the car
Re-tapped the thread and new bolt when reassembling.
Was a pita but very doable.
You've helped me out before with my AJ16! (And you got her Started! when all else had failed!) so Thanks for that
But as for the Trailing Arms, I have gone and suffered the same fate as Yourself!
The Trailing Arm Bolt would only do up and undo to a certain extent and this was with my Mains Powered Impact Wrench, which up to now has never failed to undo any Bolt, except for this one
Even though I kept working the Bolt by doing it up and undoing it multiple times, it wouldn't come out
Where in the End I resorted to a 3ft Breaker Bar, where there was lots of Creaking as I tried to undo it and then the Bolt Snapped off inside the Stub!
So looks like I'll have to drill it out the same way you had to, the only good news being that it snapped off flat with no jagged edges but still looks a PIA job to try and drill it out
OB,
Hearing your description is like 'deja vu'!!
I was very pissed off when it happened to me.. I was so careful and worked the bolt back and forwards to ease it out (or so I thought!)
I think it was the heat generated by the friction of movement that weakened the bolt to the point where it sheared off.
I was dreading drilling the bolt out but honestly it wasn't too bad at all.
Get hold of some decent quality drill bits and use a good amount of lubricant while you're drilling.
Once the bolt is gone then you'll have to get the trailing arm off the mount and you guessed...it'll be rusted solid on there! You'll wonder why they bothered bolting it on at all...
Time for some brute force and ignorance with the hammer to break the bond and get it off!
Oh and credit where credit is due.
The advice I gave that helped get your AJ16 started.. I got mine going after getting help and guidance from 'Bryan N' from the jaglovers forum.. A man with
1.an encyclopedic knowledge of the 6 cylinder engine and associated electrical systems (He had an xj40 for many years) and
2. an endless willingness to help
These forums are great...
Having tried every trick in the book (except one!) I was right out of ideas but your suggestion fixed it and for that I will ever be grateful but as for getting the Trailing Arms off
10-01-2019 | 06:29 PM
Is this Nut for Real???
