HELP! Broke off one of the BF IRS Brace bolts...

[matt888]

UPDATE : JB WELD did not work, so I took the diff out, removed cover, nd filed down the bolt a bit in order to prep for a left handed drill bit soon. Ugly pics have been removed and a better one is up. END OF UPDATE 18 Jan 07



Well, it's funny how you we can get through the serious projects like engine swaps and transmission swaps, yet it seems to be the easier tasks that end in "OH SHEEEEEEEEEET!"

I have a spare 04 IRS in my garage that I'm starting a red pill mod on. I was finishing up a Billet flow IRS brace install when I hear a "SNAP!" as I tightened down bolt #4 to 24lbs. Apparently the angle I was approaching the bolt head with my socket caused the BF supplied bolt to break off, leaving maybe abot 1/4" of threading still threaded down inside my differential :cryying:

What now? I will need a new bolt, but that's the last of my worries. How the hell do I get the bottom of the bolt out the easiest way? I'll call BF tomorrow... they must have had atleast one other idiot pull this stunt before.

JB weld jumped in my head, but there's no way I'm putting that crap in the "hole." Below are REALLY bad pics of the busted bolt and #4 brace hole with no bolt. (My good camera was stolen a few weeks ago sorry) Thanks in advance for help!

 

[dougwg]

With about 7500 of these bolts purchased by us for the IRS brace this is the second broken bolt that I have heard of. I wish it never happened.

First I would remove the brace and see if any of the bolt is protruding out of the hole. If it is, use pliers or vise-grips to spin it out. You could even use a cut off wheel and grind a notch in it and use a flat blade screw driver to remove it.

If the former is not possible, I believe you will have to remove the cover from the main housing. You may have to totally remove the diff from the sub-frame.

How soon will the new beefed up IRS be ready?

If you need me to send you a new bolt, I can do that tomorrow.

Let me know if there is anything I can do.

 

[1bad03snake]

Damn, this is great customer service, he didnt even have to call and he already got advise from the man himself
+1 for Doug at billet flow

 

[matt888]

With about 7500 of these bolts purchased by us for the IRS brace this is the second broken bolt that I have heard of. I wish it never happened.

First I would remove the brace and see if any of the bolt is protruding out of the hole. If it is, use pliers or vise-grips to spin it out. You could even use a cut off wheel and grind a notch in it and use a flat blade screw driver to remove it.

If the former is not possible, I believe you will have to remove the cover from the main housing. You may have to totally remove the diff from the sub-frame.

How soon will the new beefed up IRS be ready?

If you need me to send you a new bolt, I can do that tomorrow.

Let me know if there is anything I can do.

Doug,
A huge thank you for the quick reply! I'm 99% sure it was all operator error. The initial good news is this is a spare IRS that I will be slowly building up over the next month. There's no immediate rush and I need to drop the project for the next week anyways for the holidays. I hope I don't have to remove the diff from the housing... even out of the car, that would really suck for a darn bolt. I'm thinking there's a possibility that the bolt broke because the cavity wasn't deep enough on #4 and I didn't use the supplied threader?

Due to the fact that the bolt broke with such an uneven surface, I don't think a left handed drill bit will work either.

Bummer. Was such an easy task until the last 5 minutes! Can you please send out a new bolt over the next week or so? I should be in your records (Matt Rey). Just charge my card in the records. Thanks!

 

[dougwg]

Sorry for your troubles.

I'll get um sent out asap, no charge.

Merry Christmas.

save the money for a new camera

 

[JohnnyBlaze]

Damn, this is great customer service, he didnt even have to call and he already got advise from the man himself
+1 for Doug at billet flow

Absolutely. :thumbsup:

 

[YoungJim]

Another tactic for getting that bolt out would be to get the Snap-On multi-spline bolt extractors (no-one else's, this is one case where buying Snap-On really is worth the money) and follow the directions. They really are worth the money. A left-hand drill bit is worth the trouble too.

 

[03COORS]

One Cool Way To Remove It Also. Since The Diff Is Cast Iron It Cannot Be Welded To. If You Have Access To A 220 Welder(preferably) You Can But A Nut That Would Fit On The Bolt Originally Before It Snapped. You Will Place The Nut Directly Over Center Of Bolt In Housing And Weld (very Hot Weld) From The Center Of The Bolt And Lay Out Into The Nut. Let This Cool And Extract From Housing. You Of Course Will Have To Removed The Brace And The Cover. Good Luck.

 

[postban]

...snip.. Since The Diff Is Cast Iron It Cannot Be Welded To. ...snip

say what?

[/caps lock]

 

[03COORS]

The Diff Is Cast Iron, The Cover Is Cast Aluminum.

 

[03COORS]

I Am Sorry Cast Steel. I Just Read My Post Again. I Am A Wee Todd. But If Done Correctly You Will Not Weld Onto The Diff But Only Into The Bolt. I Have Done This One Cylinder Head Studs For Exhaust, Manifold For Bolts, All Kinds Of Things. It Takes Some Guts, But Saves Bunches Of Time, And Headache.

 

[dougwg]

One Cool Way To Remove It Also. Since The Diff Is Cast Iron It Cannot Be Welded To. If You Have Access To A 220 Welder(preferably) You Can But A Nut That Would Fit On The Bolt Originally Before It Snapped. You Will Place The Nut Directly Over Center Of Bolt In Housing And Weld (very Hot Weld) From The Center Of The Bolt And Lay Out Into The Nut. Let This Cool And Extract From Housing. You Of Course Will Have To Removed The Brace And The Cover. Good Luck.

Yes, I forgot about this method.... you could weld a nut to the broken bolt. And you could use a 110 welder also, not just a 220 welder.

P.S. The main housing of the Diff is CAST ALUMINUM, not steel or iron... period... end of discussion... I will bet my bike, car, house and life on it.

 

[matt888]

OK, I took another look this morning (don't have time until after Xmas to actually work on it). I removed one of the other bolts on the brace and compared the length to my busted bolt. It appears that the bolt broke about 1-2mm above the surface of the differential case. So, I will have to remove the IRS bracket AND diff cover. The good news is that once I remove the cover, there should be enough bolt sticking up to use any of the methods... I will most likely give a little jb weld a try first.

So here's where I now need help. I don't really want to pull the halfshafts out and drop the entire diff. Remember that this IRS is out of the vehicle, so I do have great access to it though. Is it possible to remove the cover only? Any particular procedures I should follow during this process. Scrape old grey RTV off after cover removal, apply new bead around case/re-attach cover, add friction modifier and royal purple back inside...

I really don't want to pull the shafts!

 

[svt99rag]

With about 7500 of these bolts purchased by us for the IRS brace this is the second broken bolt that I have heard of. I wish it never happened.

First I would remove the brace and see if any of the bolt is protruding out of the hole. If it is, use pliers or vise-grips to spin it out. You could even use a cut off wheel and grind a notch in it and use a flat blade screw driver to remove it.

If the former is not possible, I believe you will have to remove the cover from the main housing. You may have to totally remove the diff from the sub-frame.

How soon will the new beefed up IRS be ready?

If you need me to send you a new bolt, I can do that tomorrow.

Let me know if there is anything I can do.

Instructions say to torque bolts #1-5 to 24ftlb's on one part and when you keep reading it says to torque them to 20ftlbs. I went 24 but didnt know if I just read something wrong or if it was a typo.

 

[hssss]

Yes, I forgot about this method.... you could weld a nut to the broken bolt. And you could use a 110 welder also, not just a 220 welder.

P.S. The main housing of the Diff is CAST ALUMINUM, not steel or iron... period... end of discussion... I will bet my bike, car, house and life on it.

Unless it is one from a Tbird Supercoupe.

 

[matt888]

Instructions say to torque bolts #1-5 to 24ftlb's on one part and when you keep reading it says to torque them to 20ftlbs. I went 24 but didnt know if I just read something wrong or if it was a typo.

Good point, but I still believe it was my error due to angle of attack. I'm going to remove the cover today or tomorrow and try and resolve this. I'm guessing that I'm only going to put 20 ft/bs on them this time around for added security though... hopefully without inducing leaks later on.

On a side note,

Doug quickly sent me a complete hardware kit with all new hardware (remember, I'm only crying about one of the bolts). Excellent customer service!:rockon:

 

[dougwg]

Unless it is one from a Tbird Supercoupe.

I'm sorry... I thought he was working on a COBRA!! :dw:

20 point question:
What year Tbird SC came with a steel or cast iron cover?


BTW: Before you get all happy.... pictured below are 2 cast ALUMINUM covers

 

[matt888]

Update:

I pulled the BF brace off today. There's no way the diff cover is going to come off with the diff still in the IRS assembly. The back part of the IRS basically touches the diff cover and simply will not allow me to pull the cover off. Also, there is a real good chance that the broken bolt has threads engaged into the actual cover when I took a look with a flashlight.

So...

I need to drop the whole diff out of the assembly. I'll search through this forum for steps, but how do I pull the half-shafts out? Isn't there C-clips holding them in? I don't need to have the diff cover off to release them right? Man, that would suck right about now. Being that I have Bruce's bushing kit coming next week, I'll probably need to pull the diff out anyways. What a mess due to one bolt though What's the best method for taking the diff cover off once all of the bolts are out? It is currently only held in by the gray RTV. Do I use the tabs on the diff cover - hit them with a rubber mallet or something. Obviously I want to be real careful with the aluminum. :shrug: ...

Thanks!


Found the instructions from the red pill mod info...

"There are no c-clips, just pull them straight out.

directly from the red pill guys....


9)Disconnect Toe Link Bar from spindle. Pull out cotter pin. Remove castle nut 18mm. DO NOT HIT the taper bolt with a hammer, you will crush it because of the cotter pin hole. You can either use a tie rod puller (Autozone 25202 3.5") or the pry bar way. Spray taper bolt with penetrating oil, use long screwdriver or prybar and apply downward force on the cast end of the bar while striking the rearmost point on the spindle. Pry downward and hit it hard, it will come out.

10)Remove halfshaft/spindle assy.
Put jack underneath bottom of spindle where it meets LCA, just support it. Mark the position of the eccentric washer on the Camber Bolt where the UCA mounts to the top of the spindle. You will realign these marks during reassembly to maintain current suspension setting. Forgetting to do this will mess up your tires and ride feel.
Remove upper spindle/UCA bolt 18mm.
Lower jack all the way down allowing the springs to stretch out. Remove jack.
Remove lower spindle/LCA bolt 18mm.
Pull halfshaft out about 1/2"
Use flat screwdriver/prybar between diff and inner hub to make sure it is coming out of the diff. Pull halfshaft all the way out"

 

[hssss]

I'm sorry... I thought he was working on a COBRA!! :dw:

20 point question:
What year Tbird SC came with a steel or cast iron cover?


BTW: Before you get all happy.... pictured below are 2 cast ALUMINUM covers

And for 20 points the answer is NONE.

Further all Tbirds, as far as I know, have iron housings with aluminum covers which are interchangeable with the aluminum housings used in the Cobra/MK VIII so in an attempt to gain strength someone might have swapped. The rear cover on the TBird/MK VIII/Cobra should be interchangeable though there is a slight difference with the Cobra.

The pic shows a 00 Cobra R diff with its respective cover on the left and a Mk VIII with an explorer cover on the right.

The broken bolt would be threaded into the housing since other than the drain plug there are no threaded holes in the cover.

If you are going to track the car or drive for extended periods you might want to mod the cover to allow a diff cooler.

BTW Doug the pic came from my album, glad to know that someone took the time to look thru, and are going into a Lotus 7.

 

[matt888]

Thanks for the reply. I don't plan on tracking this car on a road course (used to a bit at Willow Springs raceway). The car will be more of a weekend cruiser/drag strip on occasion type of ride. It's the first car my wife and I bought together and we plan on always keeping it... even if it means under a car cover and forgotten one day. I've put too much blood n' sweat in it with engine, tranny, IRS swaps etc. to sell it.

Thanks for the info on the diff. Any techniques for braking the RTV seal? Do I hit the tabs on the diff cover with a rubber hammer for example? I'm going to wait a few more days until more "red pill" parts come from Bruce.