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Just had an MoT failure on a 1993 Mk3 Astra (worn rear bush on front lower suspension arm/wishbone). Got a replacement wishbone off ebay, miraculously, for £9.99 complete with both front and rear bushes, and lower ball-joint already fitted!! Unfortunately I can't get the front pivot bolt out. I began to feel the 16mm socket 'slip' on the bolt-head so abandoned the attempt lest I completely knacker the bolt! You can't get at it with a wrench or anything similar cos the bolt is recessed into the chassis member. Can anyone suggest how I can get this bolt out? (I have a replacement bolt ready, ex-Vauxhall's). Any ideas/suggestions gratefully received! (This car deserves to be saved, even with 125,000 miles on it).
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a) use a six point socket
b) check carefully that you have a genuine replacement wishbone - some spurious ones had very poor weld details, and would fail in service.
c) be sure to transfer the thin metal tubes inside the rear bush - they are important, and the new wishbone will knock if you fit it without them.
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Many thanks for that advice. I'll check the wishbone for any obvious dodgy welds. Interesting though, that the Haynes WS manual tells you to leave OUT the sleeves in the rear bush. I'll take your advice though, and fit 'em. Just one thought: I've noticed that the sleeves protrude slightly beyond the ends of the actual bush - will the bracket on the chassis accept this extra 'width', or will the sleeve 'keel over' when the hush is inserted and prevent the bolt from passing through? Thanks also for the tip wrt the 6-point socket (if I can find one).
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the sleeves protrude slightly beyond the ends of the actual bush
Yes, that's right. Get the wishbone in place, holding it near horizontally to avoid twisting the rear bush, slip the sleeves in, and then, put the bolt in.
Leave the front bush slightly loose until you have the weight of the car on the wheels again, and then, tighten the securing bolt. There's no need to do this for the rear bush, as it's pre-stressed anyway because of the vertical axis of the bush.
>>will the bracket on the chassis accept this extra 'width'
Yes.
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If all else fails to remove you bolt, weld a nut on top of it, if there is room, use one that will slip over the head of the bolt..
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Plenty about snapped bolts and your collets here tinyurl.com/5qqsxu
This is a Cavalier forum but suspension design is very similar. I would echo the comment about the £9.99 wishbone being (too?) cheap. Plenty of low quality pattern parts have snapped / collapsed in service.
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Eureka! many thanks to all. The '6-point socket' advice, 'Number-Cruncher', did the trick (a No 24 seems to equate to a 16mm). I would never have thought of that. Flushed with success I've now done both sides! (one side was an MoT failure; the other side an 'advisory'). I didn't have to try welding a nut on, as suggested by Victorbox (probably just as well: the last time I tried my hand at welding, some years ago, I set fire to the Missus' Mini Traveller and had to get the fire brigade out!!! Many thanks to all for taking the trouble to respond. This site is worth its weight in gold! Kind regards, Clive H.
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