who now considers the pinch bolt routine maintenance?
 

title says it all...

after spending nearly all weekend (+ monday) installing my control arms, i dont know what to do about this bolt in the future. i had to cut through both upper ball joints and the tie rod end to get the wheel bearing housing out and onto a bench so i could work on the pinch bolt. at which point it took me probably the better part of two days to drill it out (that part is because apparently i suck at drilling straight and im too weak to apply enough force with the hand drill)

so now, after being finished with the PASSENGER SIDE ONLY, i only wonder what will happen if i need to take it apart again in the future for something else. say, CV boot replacement, or wheel bearing, when i cant cut through the ball joints because i dont plan on replacing them.

i seriously feel like i should take it apart every couple months and clean/regrease everything to make sure it doesnt seize up like that again. if i did, would it affect my alignment even if im not removing the tie rod end?

and why do all my threads start out as rants? i must really suck at working on my cars

maybe put some wd-40 or anti-rust equivalent on the bolt when putting it on so it prevents it from rusting or seizing?

i usually throw on some permatex anti-seize (what you use on spark plugs). you can get a tube at autozone for just a couple bucks. once the bolt is through, you can clean up the end and apply some loctite. that's what i do and it seems to work for me.

i used permatex anti-seize also. i globbed it on all of the bolts for the hell of it. by the time i was done that shit was everywhere. i looked like the god damn silver surfer

Used anti-seize on my TRE's and will use it when I do my control arms whenever I get around to putting them on. Have a full set of FEBI's waiting in the garage. The problems you had is what fears me the most about this DIY

lol, i was optimistic when i started, but then it was one rusty bolt after another. i must admit, i did enjoying cutting everything all to hell with my angle grinder and cutting wheel. it made me feel a little better and i was probably laughing like a madman.

i just dont even get why there is a pinch bolt. why not conventional ball joints with nuts like on the lowers? my bentley manual actually has it pictured like that on a few pages! not sure why...

There's a trick to getting this bolt out. It's not something that makes it pop out but it's way faster and easier than what you had to do.

All you need is a air rachet and a dead blow hammer.

so what do you do when the air ratchet snaps the head off of the bolt?

anti-seize ftw!