Club 80-90 Forums

Replacing both inner joints, '87 Syncro, 11 out of 12 bolts removed with no real problems...... The last one is all radged up and will not shift. I've tried tapping round with a centre punch and it's too tight for the moleys. Short of putting a grinder through the old joint..... Any ideas?

Spot Weld a piece of flat bar or similar to the bolt head (or what is left of it) and once its starts to turn away you go......


Regards

Fritz,,,,,,,,,,,

Get a cheap 12mm socket piece from halfords or somewhere and hammer it over the bolt. Connect up to a beaker bar, remove and then throw the soiled socket piece and bolt away. I went through 4 £1.25 socket pieces while swapping my CV joints!

I always manage to shift them with a sharpish cold chisel and a 2lb lump hammer. Show it who is boss. Centre punch unlikely to yield encouragement needed.

Thanks All! Here goes some more skin off me knuckles then

Hi
Before tapping it round, or trying to hit it square on several times using a round punch. If it wont move with the grips you are using perhaps try some decent vice grips on it. A centre punch wont do it. Have you tried tapping a six sided impact socket on the bolt? Sometimes I have had to go down a size if the hexes are badly mullered, eg if the bolt is 9/16 use a 14mm socket. If you do have to use a grinder make sure there is enough meat left on the remaining part of the bolt to get it out of the gearbox flange.

Thanks Cafnod,
finally got the little b*st*rd out with a cold chisel and a BIG hammer. Didn't miss that little frisson though where I thought that I'd either succeed or trash the drive flange with all the incurred expense!! If only gambling could be as exciting as this.....

What did I tell you Saves a lot of time in the end. You just need to bust its grip then use some mole grips and wind it out.

Glad you got the job done without damage. Always help if I can. Do put a set of vice grips on your christmass list.