Fitting Some New Camber Wedges

[Guest david_l_perry]

Got some camber wedges from Peter Bell

 

Really nicely machined units, and quick to arrive - Cheers Peter ! They are machined to allow for camber and toe correction so machined to two separate angles.

 

 

First thing I did was to split them to save removing the axle - I will come to this later

 

And sprayed them up with red primer and then some satin black to safeguard against corrosion

 

 

 

 

 

So then....on to the interesting bit where it all goes Pete Tongue......

 

I removed the rear drum brakes, and then proceeded to loosen the 4 main hub bolts. No problems, they all came loose with not to much effort.

 

The plan was to remove two bolts from one side first, fit the half shims, and then repeat for the other side....

 

 

 

 

Best laid plans and all that....

 

 

 

 

As I started to remove the first Bolt it got a little tight.....more force says I.....Sheared Bolt says the car.....

 

Now at this point, I had a little word or two.....

 

Figured that I had no option now but to remove all 4 bolts as there was no way I could remove the remaining bolt stub with the back plate in place.

 

 

Each and every bolt sheared off.....

 

 

 

The problem I think was that the exposed part of the bolt had got very corroded and as I was undoing the bolt, the corroded section was being obviously drawn into the housing, crammed it all up and then had no way am I going any further , feck it ...I'll snap....They had been coated in WD40 before hand, but that didn't help.

 

 

So, now I have one hub with 4 very seized bolts with no heads.....YAAarghhh

 

 

 

This Morning my brother came over with his mig welder

 

We put some nuts on the back exposed thread (ground down the face of the bolt) and then attempted to weld the bolts in place so we could then unscrew them back out.

 

Access and visibility was not great from the back face, and we could simply not get a good enough weld.....

 

 

 

Mitch also came over this morning to point, laugh and generally call me a ham fisted tw*t.....

 

 

 

Any way.....what to do next...I know drilling out the bolts would be near on impossible having tried this in the past with very little success and several broken drill bits.....

 

Heat was tried...it was soaked in WD40 overnight....bugger all effect

 

So the next thing would be to remove the trailing arm and take it somewhere to hopefully sort it out...

 

 

 

Managed to remove the arm bolts, although the get the one nearest the Diff was a real pain, as the bolt hit the drive shaft plate, so I had to unbolt the drive shaft as well....

 

But after much swearing and pulling and grunting, managed to get it all removed....Hoorar

 

 

 

 

I have just taken it over to a Steel fabricators that I know, and hopefully they will be able to get them out now access is better. They are also tooled up to sort this type of thing out with the bigger hammer.

 

 

What should have been a simple 4 bolt removal job has turned into a pain in the arse

 

 

Hopefully they will sort this out over the weekend and I can get it back on the car next week.

 

 

I don't want a repeat on the other side so the camber wedges can wait for a month as I am on a road trip to France in a week or so in the Hood.

 

 

 

When I get back I will remove both sets and probably get the arms blasted and powder coated whilst I am at it....

 

Three days of pain and hopefully I will be back to how it was before I started

 

 

Anyhow....at least I know how the arms can be removed now

[biksz]

ooh that looks time consuming lol I not fitted any yet but will be when peter has moved and settled in so he can do me some

[Guest JammyJim]

Wow, glad I replaced all hub bolts when I referbed doner parts, so when I fitted shims no problems.

 

I like those shims didn't realise they were available from Peter Bell, the ones I have only correct camber.

 

Some of the simply jobs seem to take for ever.

 

JJ

[Guest MarkB]

I have a set going spare Stuart, not sure if they are just for the camber, I will have a look tonight, I will shove them in the van for Newark

[Guest mower man]

ooh that looks time consuming lol I not fitted any yet but will be when peter has moved and settled in so he can do me some

Half an hour per side if the bolts come out cut them in2 before you start !!!!! mick the shims that is!!!!

[Guest david_l_perry]

Or 4 days mucking about if the bolts have rusted within an inch of there lives....

 

Some good luck today. Just picked up the arm and my engineering pal has managed to get the bolts removed for me - no charge so double bonus...

 

So tomorrow will see me refitting it all and I will be back to where I started

 

Anyhow....over the weekend my Brother spotted a set of Sierra arms going on Ebay. Turns out its a place called Sierras R Us in Chorley....which is where I live.....

 

The place was 2 mins from home and they had about 20 sierras all ready for breaking. What a top find on my doorstep

 

 

 

I phoned them and got a pair of arms for £35.

 

My thinking was that the other side is more than likely to have the same crappy bolt problem.

 

Having got this other pair I can see that the original bolts fitted to mine are not the same type. They have been replaced at some point with bolts that obviously don't stand up to the rigours of road salt....

 

 

I can get this replacement set of arms cleaned up and powder coated, and then replace the arms and do the shims at the same time.

 

 

I need to think about shim washers on the bolt head side so that the bolts are flush on the backplate as once the camber wedges are placed, the bolts are no longer level with the drum backplate.....

 

 

Dave

[johnlrichardson]

Cut the bolts so no thread is sticking through.and put copper slip on the threads when refitting

 

HTH jon

[Bob Tucker]

Put nuts with copper slip on the protruding thread?

[Guest david_l_perry]

And back to where I started. But now I know far more about the way its all built than I did last week

 

 

 

The exposed part of the thread has been coated with grease. The arms will probably be coming off again in a few months when I have had the new pair of arms shot blasted and powder coated...and then I can start again...this time armed with replacement arms / bolts so if the other side shears...no big problem.

[Guest 2b cruising]

When loosening siezed bolts you can act as though you are cutting a new thread.

When the bolt starts getting tight to undo,1/4 turn out, 1 turn or more in until the latest 1/4 turn runs free.

Repeat this until the spare thread is inside the housing when it should loosen itself off.

Use plenty of WD or oil throughout this operation.

When completed, use a correct threaded tap to clean up the threads. (if available. If not just well lube when re-fitting).

Tediousness work I know, but it would save a total strip down.

Edited September 30, 2015 by 2b cruising

[theduck]

This has just made me realise I should have fitted mine while I was sorting the wheel bearings!

[Guest 2b cruising]

Easy enough job anyway Stu, get through your test first then fettle a few bits when waiting for the paperwork to come through.

[cb750]

That's exactly what I did Ken plus wire brushing between turns