Front near suspension arm. Mondeo 1996. Cut the bolt and replace arm and insert bolt the other way from the original to save time. Just as safe I am being told, but quicker and therefore cheaper labour.
Sounds stupid and dangerous to me, there must be a reason for the way it is.
Any ideas folks?
Thanks
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Don't know much about mondeos... but a bolt is a bolt..so long as it's the correct size and strength..direction of fit will be down to ease of assembly at time of manufacture.
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Wasn't there a plane that had a few crashes in the 70's? They eventually tracked down that they had all had their engines serviced at the same place. Eventually they tracked it down to an individual fitter. They watched him for a few days, and he was putting an oddly positioned bolt on upside down "because any fool knows how you should fit a nut and bolt". The bolt was then shearing, setting off a chain of events that ended up with the engine dropping off.
Probably not relevant, though.
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Andy
Don't know the bolt in question, but is factory fitted with the bolt head on top, and nut fitted from below?
If so, loss of nut results in loose connection but the bolt doesn't drop out. Suspension looseness or clonking follows, which can be investigated.
Fit it the other way and loss of nut means the bolt drops out. Result, suspension becomes disconnected, followed by........
Regards
john
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Vin has mentioned an aircraft story. Railway buffs will know how a Britannia crashed in the 50s near Hellifield because the slide bars were held together by a long bolt at each end, which worked loose with the reciprocating motion until there was nothing to guide the piston rod etc. The nuts were in a tight space needing a special thin spanner which made for skimped inspection. Again not very relevant as the bars would have fallen off whichever way up the bolt was!
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Are these bolts prone to loosening then? A quick straw poll of suspension arm bolt loosen/loss might help sway me.
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I think John Slaughter has got the correct and obviously safe answer.
As an ex aircraft enginer, if you are not going to wirelock and loctite the bolt and nut together I think you should put it back the way you found it.
It may take longer to put it back correctly but are you expecting to do this particular job frequently.
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I just popped out to the car park to look at one of our fleet Mondeos, and I see the bolt to which you refer. If you put this bolt in upside down and the nut works loose or the bolt shears due to stress where the threaded portion ends, the bolt will drop out, the wishbone will come away from the subframe and you will crash. I might be tempted to risk it on an old banger, using a new nut and bolt and plenty of thread locking compound, but I'm surprised your garage is recommending it on a 5 year old car, since you could sue them if it all went wrong. I can see the problem though - to do this one properly you will either have to raise the end of the gearbox about six inches, or drop the front subframe. Hours of path-clearing spanner work either way.
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How very cretinous,but we have come to expect no less from FMC.
Masters of cynical marketing and the fabled £600,000 door trim redesign(20 years ago,too!).
And all for what?
A drop of Loctite?
give me strength!
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