penk
TJ Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2016
- Messages
- 157
Well nuts. Last night was Replace the Ball Joints Night. Which, honestly, almost went okay. Got the wheel off (had one very nasty lug nut that wouldn't move. Broke off the aluminum cap on the lug, so went down one size on the impact wrench and managed to get the lug off. Swapped that one out for one from the spare. I may be replacing all my lugnuts soon, because those capped things are for the birds).
Got the caliper off, the axle nut cover and the axle nut (yay 36mm impact sockets!!), and got 2 of the 3 hub bolts out. You see where this is going....
The last bolt was pretty well rounded off (long before I got to it). We had pre-soaked the bolts in Kroil (you can see it in the picture), but there was just no getting a grip on this one. First of all, are these things supposed to be spline bolts? I had a hanger-on last night telling me those are supposed to be reverse torque bolts but I have my skeptical face on.
So, we considered options like welding on some scrap or an old socket, and twisting the bolt out, as well as heating it with a torch and trying to get a grip on it, but it was getitng late and I needed to get home, so we buttoned everything up and came home.
Now i'm in the "fuck it" stage, and will probably hand it to my local garage, with the ball joints, and say "Here, you do it." I'd much rather do this myself, but this is beyond my meager mechanical skill set.
Got the caliper off, the axle nut cover and the axle nut (yay 36mm impact sockets!!), and got 2 of the 3 hub bolts out. You see where this is going....
The last bolt was pretty well rounded off (long before I got to it). We had pre-soaked the bolts in Kroil (you can see it in the picture), but there was just no getting a grip on this one. First of all, are these things supposed to be spline bolts? I had a hanger-on last night telling me those are supposed to be reverse torque bolts but I have my skeptical face on.
So, we considered options like welding on some scrap or an old socket, and twisting the bolt out, as well as heating it with a torch and trying to get a grip on it, but it was getitng late and I needed to get home, so we buttoned everything up and came home.
Now i'm in the "fuck it" stage, and will probably hand it to my local garage, with the ball joints, and say "Here, you do it." I'd much rather do this myself, but this is beyond my meager mechanical skill set.