Nuts on lower ball joint bracket rounded.. How to fix?

enthrall · Post by **enthrall** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 11:26 pm

Tried to undo the three nuts that hold the lower ball joint to the steering knuckle and suspension arm today.. And.. On one side, i found one was nastily rounded, and despite using the proper 14mm socket, i managed to damage the edges of one of the nuts on the other side.
How in the hell do i fix this and get those nuts off now?

also, what caused the issue in the first place? Wrong grade nuts installed?

Reason why i tried removing them was to get the cv's out- followed the full nissan factory service manual instructions.

ideas would be appreciated!

n12et_exa · Post by **n12et_exa** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:54 pm

try bashing a 13mm socket on to the rounded bolt heads ????? its a very dodgey way but some times it works

brendan1 · Post by **brendan1** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 4:19 pm

Or try using a slip joint pair of pliers, ive used pliers on rounded nuts before.

amraks · Post by **amraks** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:19 pm

vice grips usually works.

Just be careful not to snap the top of the bolt off other wise you will be drilling it out and retapping it.

Post by **tassuperkart** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:00 pm

Nah you can get pliers onto those nuts. they are recessed up in the lower control arm.

Im pretty sure those nuts are 13mm. They are on my car anyway.
As a last resort, try using a single hex impact socket on them. You might get away with that.

However, I got rid of some stubborn and damaged nuts sometime back by grinding the head off the bolt and drifting them down and out.

If you dont have any of those funky triple bolt thingies handy, just use some free wizz-nuts (or Nyloks) and bolts

Oracle

enthrall · Post by **enthrall** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 11:35 am

Thanks for the advice people!

yeah, unfortunately, it is rather tricky to get in there- one is recessed deep into the control arm, with barely space to fit in a socket! (that's the rounded one) (there's a little circular hole in the arm to allow access :S)

Gone mad with the RP7 spray every day in the hope that it might help them along a bit.

nah- 13mm ring spanner / socket wont fit on them at all- could be the wrong nuts fitted though. It does say in the service manual to chuck them after removing them once- i'm guessing some genius beforehand decided to ignore that.

Advice to everyone- spend the money, chuck them! you probably wont get them off twice! The manual is nto being pedantically conservative!

One of the 17mm head, grade 6 bolts on the strut to knuckle have ceased too- quietly praying that loosens eventually. The nut has rounded, but luckly the bolt head is still ok. Drilling it out, and snapping off the head may be the go i'd say.

I'm seeing now how the thread repair guy has a viable business now- there woudl be no shoratge of work i'd imagine with old cars :S

Post by **tassuperkart** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:31 pm

What the problem mostly is moronic neanderthalls ripping the nuts up too tight.
Once they dry out and rust on its impossible to remove them.

Just grind the heads off those funky bolt thingies.
Mission accomplished in about 5 minutes.

Oracle

enthrall · Post by **enthrall** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:22 am

In the end, i bought a set of damaged nut extractors- They look like a set of sockets, but round inside, with tapered spiral threads on the inside.
They work by cutting a thread on the *outside* of the nut, so after a bit of turning using a breaker bar, the grip they have on the troublesome nut is perfect and unable to ever slip.

Made of Mo-steel, and good quality, they cost a bomb for a few little sockets- $60, but a very good investment as they allowed access to hard to get at recessed bolts. They didnt even blunt a little bit after a few uses.
The thread repair guy's callout would have been more than that.

Will post a couple pics up. Highly reccommended if you have bought a car that's been abused a bit by previous workmen who overtightened as a rule.

Had to go to five different shops in town before i found anything like them though- they were not easy to find.

Spiff · Post by **Spiff** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:50 pm

I've never removed these nuts, heaps easier to undo the ball joint nut on the steering knuckle, crack the taper & swing the whole strut out of the way.
Once the taper is released, use a pinch bar or jack handle between the chassis rail & swaybar, just above the middle of the 2 lower control arm inboard mounts, and then you can lever the whole lower control arm down easily until the taper & thread of the ball joint clears the hole in the steering knuckle (wheel hub mount) then swing the strut assy out off the CV shaft (obviously after removing large nut) and then forward out of the way to remove the shafts. Whithin 5 minutes from here it can be back on the ground.

Never had a manual the first time I did this, looks like it saved me some grief