robble36

my passenger front wheel has a bit of side to side play and i diagnosed it to be that flange bolt for the control arm... i tried to tighten it but all it does is spin and i backed it out and it does not appeared stripped.. could it be the bushing? or maybe the other side that the bolt screws into is stripped?? what could i do?

Nbboy7

iTrader: (5)

the welds on the nut in the subframe broke so it will just spin

freshdaily

its probably a tie rod, look for play in the inner tie rod then the outter. I've changed MANy tie rods that made this side to side play happen.

RyanA

Why steer this guy elsewhere when he straight up told us that his bolt is not tightening up? Correct me if I'm wrong but if that bolt falls out, that will be a bad deal. Also, he even said he diagnosed the problem to be this area where the play was.

Check the captive nut on the back side of the crossmember. If the welds broke, simply use a backing wrench or re tack weld the nut to the crossmember. If the nut ends up being stripped, simply put a big wrench on it, break it off and get another nut with the same thread pitch and spot weld it back on. Also, verify that the correct length bolt is in the hole by comparing it to the other side (hold it under the control arm and eyeball it)

Ryan

94CivicSi

iTrader: (1)

^ +1 for RyanA's diagnosis, although I wouldn't say you'd have to weld the new back on.

I had one of these backing nuts come off my rear trailing arm and replaced it with a flange nut. The hole in the crossmember that this bolt passes through SHOULD be the same diameter as the bolt, so I didn't see the need to have the backing nut re-tacked.

robble36

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by freshdaily &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its probably a tie rod, look for play in the inner tie rod then the outter. I've changed MANy tie rods that made this side to side play happen.</TD></TR></TABLE>

its not the tie rod i already checked that i am 100% sure this is my problem and you would be too if you were here haha

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RyanA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why steer this guy elsewhere when he straight up told us that his bolt is not tightening up? Correct me if I'm wrong but if that bolt falls out, that will be a bad deal. Also, he even said he diagnosed the problem to be this area where the play was.

Check the captive nut on the back side of the crossmember. If the welds broke, simply use a backing wrench or re tack weld the nut to the crossmember. If the nut ends up being stripped, simply put a big wrench on it, break it off and get another nut with the same thread pitch and spot weld it back on. Also, verify that the correct length bolt is in the hole by comparing it to the other side (hold it under the control arm and eyeball it)

Ryan</TD></TR></TABLE>

yea i was kinda thinking the same thing but here is the dilemma







thanks for the input so far...

pdiggitydogg

There is a weld-nut on the other side of the subframe plate - the bolt is not just threaded into sheet metal. If you were to cut a small hole, from the side of the bracket just to the bottom of that small circular hole, you will have access to the nut and wont really damage anything.
Another solution, if thats the case, is to remove the weld nut and just replace with with a standard nut, that you can access with a box wrench.

^That is, if Im remembering the structure correctly. I havent played with my suspension in a long time.

I find it strange that you were able to back the bolt out, but are unable to tighten it.... Unless I read that wrong, which is more than entirely possible, since I skimmed...

freshdaily

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I see what ya mean, my bad for the tie rod thing, I was thinkin sum other crap. Yea like Ryan said if that flange bolts falls out your screwed like a **** star! theres no way to rech inside the sub frame to put a nut in there to catch the bolt?

robble36

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pdiggitydogg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There is a weld-nut on the other side of the subframe plate - the bolt is not just threaded into sheet metal. If you were to cut a small hole, from the side of the bracket just to the bottom of that small circular hole, you will have access to the nut and wont really damage anything.
Another solution, if thats the case, is to remove the weld nut and just replace with with a standard nut, that you can access with a box wrench.

^That is, if Im remembering the structure correctly. I havent played with my suspension in a long time.

I find it strange that you were able to back the bolt out, but are unable to tighten it.... Unless I read that wrong, which is more than entirely possible, since I skimmed...

</TD></TR></TABLE>

yea i took the bolt out completely and i put it back in .... i wanna cry

RyanA

Can you get the bolt to come back at all? If you can get just a little, put an impact on the bolt and put a tip of a screwdriver behind it to pry the head out. Once you get enough room, use a regular combination wrench to apply the pulling force while you back the bolt out.

Once you get it out, you can determine what the heck you will do to get good threads on the back side again.

Ryan

robble36

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RyanA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Can you get the bolt to come back at all? If you can get just a little, put an impact on the bolt and put a tip of a screwdriver behind it to pry the head out. Once you get enough room, use a regular combination wrench to apply the pulling force while you back the bolt out.

Once you get it out, you can determine what the heck you will do to get good threads on the back side again.

Ryan</TD></TR></TABLE>

hhaaha bro the bolt goes in and out @ ease ... that is the problem see haha its not seized it just keeps spinning forever and ever it doesnt want to tighten

RyanA

Well, if you pull the bolt out and the control arm off, you can see if the captive nut has broken off. If the threads look good and it spins easily, the nut is probably MIA. I do agree; cut a small enough access slot in there to get a new nut in. What you can do is this: Cut a slot just big enough to put the nut with a backing wrench (use the open end) in there. Start the bolt in slowly and make sure you get the nut started. Tighten it up and pull the backing wrench back out.

Ryan

robble36

ya i had that idea but would that compromise the integrity of the subframe itself? i really dont see why it wasnt designed like the rear subrame .. it should just have a Nut on the immediate backside of it instead

RyanA

If you are concerned with the integrity, here's what you can do: Use a cut off wheel and cut a "window" that you can work through. Get everything put together. Put a couple spot welds on the new nut. Put the "window" you cut out back up there and weld it back in. This way, you know that no structural integrity has been compromised.

Ryan

robble36

ya i am going to mess with it in a couple of hours i will do a follow up so thanks for the tips

robble36

my friend and i fixed it.. we cut the subframe just a tiny little slit and got the nut that broke off to come out. we put in a open ended wrench like RyanA mentioned and we just tightend the Sh*t out of it.. i put some loctite on it but we didnt weld the nut back because the hole was not big enough to get a welder to fit.. right now it holds good and stuff but it occasionally makes this clicking noise so my guess is it is going to fall apart again but for now its good!!