vr6 wishbone bolt snapped :(

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

absolutley gutted!! finnaly got some motivation to replaced the passenger side wishbone and balljoints and front disc, {did the drivers side a few weeks back} and the front wishbone bolt snapped!!!! i did use penetrating spray but clearly didnt help, the wishbone is still held in by the stud thats left in,{its clean in half}any advice/ ideas? im guessing if i use the car the stud will become free on its siezed threads as it'll rock back n forth, am i right in thinking the wishbone cant realy go anywhere as the driveshaft and arb will be stopping it from pulling out? {its the horizontal bolt at the front }if you know what i mean. anybody know the part numbers of these bolts? thanks...

[MattPc 0]

The PN is N 904 840 03,

to get it out you will need to drill the bolt to the depth of the wishbone bush only with a 12mm drill so you can remove the wishbone. then use a 10.5mm drill bit to drill out the rest of the bolt then re-tap using a M12x 1.5 tap

 

Matt

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

ahhh cheers buddy, im guessing this is a fairly common problem then?

[James. 7]

Both of mine did this. New subframe for me though.

 

Best of luck.

 

PS: £1.42 each from VW

[mikkijayne 0]

am i right in thinking the wishbone cant realy go anywhere as the driveshaft and arb will be stopping it from pulling out?

 

Very very wrong! If the wishbone pulls off the remains of the bolt it will rip the driveshaft out of the CV joint, likely rip the ARB out of the wishbone or bend it, , the wheel will move back in the arch and trash the bodywork, you will lose steering on that side and probably crash. Very bad things will happen.

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

thanks for the heads up miki, yea james i was thinking i was going to have to get a new subframe aswell untill what matt has said above, how annoying was it swapping the subframe anyway? i can imagine the hardest bit would be messing around with the steering rack? cheers..

[mikkijayne 0]

Swapping the subframe is a couple of hours work. I had to do it on my 16V cos it rusted through, and yes the rack is the hardest part because of those stupid captive bolts. I found it was easier to disconnect the rack from the column so I could drop it enough to get access to the bolts, but left the tie rods and hoses connected. As long as you support the engine its then only half a dozen bolts and its out.

 

If you can't find a Corrado VR6 one then you can use a mk3 subframe instead. The only difference is in the arms that go back from the ARB mounts on to the floorpan. They are longer on the mk3 so you need to cut them down and drill a couple of holes to match the Corrado one.

 

Personally I would just chuck another subframe on, but then I suck at drilling straight :D

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

cheers, ive been quoted £75.00 for a corrado vr6 subframe posted off ebay which i think is blady good! but i'll have a good go at drilling first seeing as it cant get much worse,

[boost monkey 0]

Swapping the subframe is a couple of hours work. I had to do it on my 16V cos it rusted through, and yes the rack is the hardest part because of those stupid captive bolts. I found it was easier to disconnect the rack from the column so I could drop it enough to get access to the bolts, but left the tie rods and hoses connected. As long as you support the engine its then only half a dozen bolts and its out.

 

If you can't find a Corrado VR6 one then you can use a mk3 subframe instead. The only difference is in the arms that go back from the ARB mounts on to the floorpan. They are longer on the mk3 so you need to cut them down and drill a couple of holes to match the Corrado one.

 

Personally I would just chuck another subframe on, but then I suck at drilling straight :D

 

I don't think the Mk3 frame has the big heavy block for vibration damping on too? or am i being a tard and that's a 4-cyl part only? :lol:

[mikkijayne 0]

Well the one I used had it, but I cut it off cos its pointless ;) That was a 4-cyl tho. No idea if the VR6 uses it or not?

[aide 0]

my vr subframe doesn't have the vibration block... but then that could be cos my car is crap :lol:

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

whooo! very happy to say that after roughly 6hours of blood sweat and tears and a mild hangover the rad0 lives on!!

wasnt easy though! at one point i almost gave up, drilled out to the remaining stud to remove the wishbone and then drilled out the rest and tapped a thread,only problem i had was the new hole i drilled wasnt 100% inline with the old one so when it came to put the bolt through it wasnt inline but abit of precision hammering and it went in and tightened down good! thanks again matt for your post without that i may well have taken a different approach...if anybody has this problem make sure you use good quality drill bits, and have a blady good go! you cant make it any worse..

[mikkijayne 0]

Nice one :) Glad it's sorted :cat:

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

cheers m8, its made my week!! words couldnt describe how pleased i was when it all bolted up :)

now on to the next problem! Door pins! lol

[MattPc 0]

Good to hear you fixed it ok

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

finnaly sorted my phone camera out heres some pics of that nightmare,

 

shame i didnt take a finished shot, just wanted it done asap, thanks again :)

[elliott 10]

This just happened to me today, horrible nasty feeling when it snapped.

Drilling it tomorrow now that i've seen this.

[elliott 10]

Is the tap you're using M12X1.0?