DIY Car Maintenance with function over finesse!!

[mickthemaverick]

Did Jim swipe half your lunch from your plate?

No Steve, in fact the kitchen swapped his chips for my salad so we had no desires on each other's plates

[CitroJim]

Did Jim swipe half your lunch from your plate?

[mickthemaverick]

Well sadly today has been a day of self inflicted grief!! I set about replacing the offside lower control arm by undoing the two mounting plate securing bolts, no problem. Next came the rear plate bush bolt - problem, would not move at all so I moved onto the drop link. I only needed to remove one end from the ARB as The bottom is bolted to the arm I am replacing. Sadly no joy, it wasn't going to move easily so rather than waste time, as I did on the rear drop link, I got the angle grinder out straight away and set about the link retaining bolt. That is when I made my juvenile error!! I did think it was generating more sparks than last time but failed to see why at that point!!

Having removed the drop link it was time to turn my attention to the inner pivot bolt which has very limited access to the nut. It was as I was looking for a way to get a purchase on it I realised where the extra sparks had come from. ^%*&***&^%$£%^. Time to put the bits I had undone back together as much as I could and roll the car back from the garage opening so I can secure the garage door while I went inside and ordered a new inner tie rod, and therefor track rod end and boot, to replace the one that my cutting disc had become too friendly with!!!

Fortunately I was able to find the complete tie rod with clips and boot from Bilstein for a very reasonable £30 to be delivered tomorrow!! I then decided it was time to make life a little easier by buying a decent inner tie rod removal tool as well, which I found for £40 also being delivered tomorrow! I added a new tube of thread lock to the order to avoid discovering mine has gone hard and now will take the rest of the day off once I have sprayed the inner pivot bolt and rear bush nuts with the new penetrant which is being delivered this afternoon!!

[CitroJim]

We've all been there when angle-grinding Mick. These things happen to all of us.. It's so easily done.

Now, having had that happen, you know the rest of the job will go very smoothly indeed

[Rp0thejester]

We've all been there when angle-grinding Mick. These things happen to all of us.. It's so easily done.

Now, having had that happen, you know the rest of the job will go very smoothly indeed

Ermm, for once I'm gunna disagree with you Jim. If you haven't been shown how to use an angle grinder then you shouldn't be touching it! I only say this as I use small grinders and big cutting machines with a blade dia of upto 2.2metres. The smaller grinders are the worst with a lock on tab, they scare me, let it go and it will still cut you up!

[NewcastleFalcon]

...That is when I made my juvenile error!! I did think it was generating more sparks than last time but failed to see why at that point!!

Having removed the drop link it was time to turn my attention to the inner pivot bolt which has very limited access to the nut. It was as I was looking for a way to get a purchase on it I realised where the extra sparks had come from. ^%*&***&^%$£%^. Time to put the bits I had undone back together as much as I could and roll the car back from the garage opening so I can secure the garage door while I went inside and ordered a new inner tie rod, and therefor track rod end and boot, to replace the one that my cutting disc had become too friendly with!!!

From Bargain Basement Motoring yesterday....Sorry about your mishap Mick, hope you sort it out, but it would appear my little comment yesterday, may have jinxed the angle grinding job!

The Prophetic Falcon wrote Tuesday March 05 2024
I have come to the same conclusion as you on drop links Mick, spend the minimum time attempting the undoing by conventional means, and get the angle grinder out, although one slip could slice into the mounting on the strut/arb or whatever.

Neil

[mickthemaverick]

Yes I appreciate the comments chaps, I have two points to make. 1) I was trained in the use of angle grinders, power saws and similar tools as part of my engineering apprenticeship. and 2) It did not slip at all, it cut through the drop link bolt cleanly as I expected the problem occurred because I simply didn't notice the back edge of the disc kissing the tie rod because from my correct stable holding position the rod was masked by the side panel on my safety goggles!!

[mickthemaverick]

That nice Amazon chap did his usual 30 minutes ago, deposited my parcels in the alley next to the front door without ringing the bell and then climbed into his van and sent me an email saying my parts had been delivered!! Anyhow I opened them up, all Bilstein and checked all is as it should be, it is:

The complete tie rod

I then opened the other box to examine the installation tool:

Inner tie rod tool

I am quite impressed with the quality of the tool, it even has a locking ring to stop it slipping off, although in my car I doubt there is room to use it!!

Locking ring

Also in the box was my new bottle of thread lock so it's all systems go for tomorrow!!

[CitroJim]

Excellent

[mickthemaverick]

A mixed day today, two bolts would not come undone at all so employed many tricks. Got there eventually, went to install replacement tie rod only to find the end is too short!!!¬¬! GRRRRR Ordered correct end for tomorrow and set about rebuilding the lower control arm. All done so I had to replace the castor to pull the car back out the garage for security and will have to rejack etc when the new end is here!! Hopefully then just a matter of installing the track rod having set it to exactly the same length as the old one which is done using two g clamps on the bench to touch both ends of old rod and then fit new rod to same length,:

Length setting

mark the position of the end and then install putting the end back on to the same point.

Short track rod end

[mickthemaverick]

Just a quick mid GP update. I installed the new track rod end without any issue and the car is back on the road. I am on school run duty for the next fortnight so I will leave the other side until the car is not in demand and it has hopefully revisited the dealer to sort out the console lights.

I then turned my attention to the MX3's coolant loss and discovered it was leaking from the top hose to radiator joint. I fitted a new clip and ran it up to temperature and no leaking. However it still has a random misfire which I think may be residual moisture from the leak. I'll investigate that further on the next dry day!

[CitroJim]

Excellent, pleased your week of automotive difficulties are rapidly resolving themselves Mick

[moizeau]

Here's a specially made tool

Then here's the reason

More info at the weekend

[mickthemaverick]

Pete I think you should copy that over to the homemade tools thread:

viewtopic.php?p=774430#p774430

[moizeau]

You will see why I posted here at the weekend Mick. The other tools to be used will shed a lot of light on the reason why. Function over finesse. Whether it works or not is yet to be seen.