29 replies to this topic

[Qik Nip]

Don't bother with the HF drift punches -- the steel is garbage, and splits when used hard. A lot depends how bent the bolt is. I've had one so bent I did have to cut it out in multiple pieces, and yes, a sawzall does fit. If it's not that badly bent, you can often drive the old bolt out with the new one.

Punch smunch! Jimmy, you're back!
Rick

[Jim Boemler]

I had to do the same thing on the passenger front than you did.

For those following along in your hymnals, the references to a Sawzall above were NOT intended to imply cutting pieces off the suspension arms. The idea is to cut the BOLT (you may have to cut it more than once).

PS: good to be back, Rick -- after a fashion, since I haven't been able to race for a while. Good to see a lot of the same old faces are still here.

[dstevens]

For those following along in your hymnals, the references to a Sawzall above were NOT intended to imply cutting pieces off the suspension arms. The idea is to cut the BOLT (you may have to cut it more than once).

This was more like what Wheeler was talking about. The upper was bent so bad it wouldn't travel freely and you could see the crease in the webbing. The lower and most of the rest of that corner had junkyard pen and the shock and spring were newish. Can't tell if the front subframe is a replacement but it measures square.

[Tom Hampton]

As noted above, the droid you seek is called a drift. I had my run-in with a wall at SP last year (on my sixth wedding anniversary, none the less, but at least she was there to help and pass the Jell-O shots), and spent five hours in Alan Olsen's* shop using all sorts of Implements Of Destruction removing a similarly bent bolt. I think we may have stopped at Sears on the way home that weekend to purchase an assortment of drifts to add to the race tool kit. It has become one of those "how did I get by without these" sort of basics I can't believe I never owned before. I haven't quite been able to justify a battery powered Sawzall (yet), but I do carry the plug in one with us now. I think of that as insurance. As long as you have the tool with you, it guarantees you will never need it.


* Kudos to Alan for giving us use of the space. He watched the incident happen in T5 and may have beaten me back to pit road, where he told my wife not to let me out of the car and to just had back to his to shop to work. Also kudos to Jim Thill who loaned me the drifts in the first place, Bret dePedro, Chris Windsor, various Meatheads, and Bad Al for coming by with words of encouragement and various Implements while we beat the s@#t out the car. It's things like that that keep me coming back to MARRS.

I have a battery powered sawzall...and while "it works"...I find it to be the biggest drain on battery out there. Very inefficient use of power since it only cuts on half of the stroke. Rather use a 4 1/2 grinder...or the plugin kind.

[Randy Thieme]

Had to remove a bent rear suspension bolt last night. Would not hammer out (or out least not with my wimpy white-color cubicle dweller muscles). Came out very easily using a gear puller. The threaded shaft on the puller was small enough to enter the bolt hole but it left a few scratches near the outside(nothing serious). Next time will find a 1/4" drive deep socket small enough to slide in the bolt hole and place it between the puller and bolt to prevent scratches.


Removing Long Bolt With Puller

[Alberto]

^crafty

[Cy Peake]

Yellow subframe = COOL!

[Bench Racer]

Yellow subframe = COOL!

Care to guess what color Mr. Pink's (sometimes poster) subframes are?

[CARacer]

Actually, as the bolt got pushed further through, the drift pin punch's taper got too large to fit through the bushings, if that makes sense, and we pounded the rest of it out using a 3/8ths socket extension. We might have used the socket extension together with the punch, I don't remember.

[Alberto]

Actually, as the bolt got pushed further through, the drift pin punch's taper got too large to fit through the bushings, if that makes sense, and we pounded the rest of it out using a 3/8ths socket extension. We might have used the socket extension together with the punch, I don't remember.

That is correct. We did have to resort to that. Barely remembered that detail.