Mat's BX Blog

[Defender110]

Don't suppose it is a left hand thread?

[mat_fenwick]

Nope, unfortunately not. I'd like to claim I checked it before attempting to undo it...but I'd be lying!

[Dollywobbler]

You can borrow my electric impact driver but it's not exactly close! Got the Green Tiger's hub nut undone after I'd broken quite a few tools in a similar manner to yourself.

[mat_fenwick]

Thanks Ian, but I took it round to the local(ish) garage in Bala today. After confidently saying "If this doesn't undo it, nothing will", their big impact gun failed too In the end it took a 1" drive bar with 2 metres of leverage to get it loose - I think the smaller tools I was using (even before failure) were just absorbing some of the torque to bend them rather than transferring it to the nut.

My torque multiplier was actually lifting the wheel from the ground as its fixed arm dug in, so that was obviously wasting some force. Let's hope the rest of the job goes more easily!

[Dollywobbler]

Well, at least you know it wasn't going to just come undone on its own!

[Wooscary]

Bala! Nice lake.

[mat_fenwick]

Let's hope the rest of the job goes more easily!

It didn't.

[toddao]

The next job will be easy : phoning up the scrapyard!

[citsncycles]

The next job will be easy : phoning up the scrapyard!

Nah, they'll be engaged!

[mat_fenwick]

I must admit the thought crossed my mind briefly! All in all it was a simple job in theory, and in practice too apart from the bottom ball joint pinch bolt. The nut came undone, but the bolt itself was firmly stuck. I snapped my only T45 Torx bit trying to twist it out, and hitting (hard) with a BFH just bent it so it wouldn't have come out anyway. Bearing in mind that this was my only means of legal transport I was now rather stuck, and yet again it started to rain despite a dry forecast.

I tried a bit of heat, but had to be careful not to melt the BJ cover or CV boot. Still nothing. Tried drilling out the bolt, but at the point of breaking through the other end my pilot drill snapped, and rendered the whole thing undrillable. So I ground off the head, and remaining length of thread, and then used the angle grinder to cut a slot in the casting around the bolt. Once I had cut as deep as I dared, I drilled a line of holes, and used a heavy chisel to break off a segment. I would then tap out the remains of the bolt and put on the new hub/steering knuckle. I then put on new front brake pads, and bled fresh fluid through as it was a few years since it had been changed last.

As for pranging it last weekend - it was just after hearing about the FIL's break in we were heading over to see him. Rounding a corner there was a car coming towards us halfway onto our side of the road. I pulled over hard left into the bank, but he continued towards us (to be fair there was a steep drop his side he presumably wanted to stay well away from). Neither of us could quite stop in time, and there wasn’t quite enough gap between him and the bank. Fortunately the only damage was a smear of plastic on my wheel arch, which rubbed off without too much trouble. If I hadn't been rushing I'd have been able to stop in time even if he should have been on his side of the road, so it was 50/50 fault.

[MULLEY]

Thats a bit generous Mat, it was 100% his fault as he was on your side, i'd have threatened to call the police unless he hands over some repair money & for having to wash your underwear due to his incompetence, he clearly was driving waaay to quick that's why he wasn't on his side, absolute berk, glad you're ok & the car only suffered superficial damage, could have been a lot worse

[Dollywobbler]

There's absolutely no point getting all arsey about such a minor incident. It's more trouble than it's worth!

[MULLEY]

It ended up being minor, but what about the next poor bugger who's on the receiving end of that twats driving skills, that outcome might be 6ft under

[mat_fenwick]

The way I look at it, we were both going too fast to stop before contact - yeah, he was over my side but I should have been able to stop in the distance I could see to be clear. Hopefully a minor incident like this will make both of us better drivers without any real harm being done...I shouldn't let my emotions affect the way I drive. That said, I was surprisingly calm about it all - it was Lana that almost had to be restrained (she was firmly in agreement with Mulley!)

In other news my trusty trolley jack is no longer pumping up Fortunately a seal kit is only ~£1.60 so should be a cheap and easy fix.

[MULLEY]

Perhaps it was because you were in the focus that you took it so well, now what if you'd been in your BX, different attitude, haha...You're a better man than me Mat, i'd have been furious. Funny that you mention Lana was up for a lynching squad as well, our lady passengers always seem slightly higher strung than when they're driving, strange on that eh?