Happy holidays everyone, and enjoy your next year!!

I have so many pictures and I was moving along smoothly taking notes ready to provide to this community the step by steps for this repair, when I got confident in my 24 inch breaker bar and a little PB blaster. I cranked on this bolt until the head slipped off. I then in a fit of stress drilled a miss placed hole off center (top-top-leftish), and smacked at it with a wood chisel (bottom right), before my wife talked me into taking the other side apart. I did so in a sinch using heat, PB blaster (which after hours showed no help on its own) and a compression wrench held down the entire time. I could never once stop and use a breaker bar without worrying I will shear off the head again, and even the air wrench was slow going at pulling the bolt out.

I bought some metal bits, bolt removers, cold steel chisels, and punches. Without hearing from the community I don't want to do much more to my car. My pick-n-pull does not have many Minis come through. The only one currently available has been there since the 19th of November. I'm afraid this bolt is too long and rusted to pull out now with bolt removers, but I do not have a drill press to perfectly sink a bit down through it.

200,000 miles. I'm replacing the struts, springs, ball joints, control arm bushings and the axle on this (driver) side.

I love you guys, and hate my self right now.

 

Glad to see that you are taking care of an older MINI...

What year is your MINI? I am guessing it is a Gen I?

I think if you do a search on NAM, here, you will find that your problem is not unusual. You should also be able to find the “fix” for it. MINI changed this design slightly with the Gen II MINI and went to a nut and bolt design for this pinch bolt. Gone is the threaded hole in the steering knuckle. You can actually use a Gen II nut and bolt in the Gen I MINI.

So, I think you will find that the “simple” fix is to just drill out what is there, threads and all. I think you can drill it out from the threaded end with a drill the size of the bolt. Go to your hardware store and buy a Grade 8 SAE bolt, washer and nut that is about the same size as the metric one and put it back together. If your hardware store is a good one that has metric, get a Grade 10.2 (I think that is the metric high strength designation equivalent to the Grade 8) bolt, washer and nut. Of course, in either case, the bolt you get has to be long enough to go all the way through and be able to put the nut and washer on it. What I don’t remember is whether there is all ready a flat where the nut and washer will go, or if you have to do a little grinding to make a flat.

If you want to try to save the threads that are there now and put in a replacement bolt, then you will need to drill from the the other end of the bolt (the non-head end). This will help to loosen rust in the threads. You can also try to drive the reminder of the bolt from that end by turning it clockwise (again, not sure if there are ez-outs made for turning clockwise). Lots of heat on both sides of the pinch parts.

Hope this helps and good luck with it.

 

Using an EZ out can actually work against if you don't use the right size. If you use one that is too big it can expand the threads when hammered into the the drilled hole, making the bolt even tighter. Using one that is too small risks snapping the EZ out when force is applied. At work, and I know that I have the luxury of many types of equipment to hand, I would TIG weld a nut to the broken bolt, and apply heat to expand the metal on the thinnest wall near the bolt. Generally speaking, I dislike using EZ outs. They usually cause more problems than they solve.

Looking at the picture of the broken bolt, if it is rusted in there so tightly that a 24 inch breaker bar snapped the head off I doubt that an EZ out will move it. Drilling it out would probably be the best option. Firstly center pop a start point for the drill bit using the ***** punch closest to your fingers in the photo of the packet. That way if it is a little off center you can adjust it by angling the ***** punch to move the center pop. When you are satisfied that it is on center, use a center drill (google it) to make a starter point. Then you can use a drill bit about half the size of the bolt as a starter hole, and then drill the bolt out.

 

Just curious, have you done this on this broke bolt in the MINI? In general welding a nut on would be a good idea. I just wonder if enough of the heat from welding will make it past the pinch slot in the steering knuckle and into the area where the threads are to make this work. This is what makes this design such a pain to deal with and likely the reason MINI changed it. The bolt easily rusts up, it is easy to break that bolt and, when that happens, it is really hard to fix. Without access to a TIG welder, there are not many options for a DIY mechanic and, given that MINI has gone to a nut and bolt design, that would seem to be the easiest to do here as an alternative. That is, just drill the whole thing out and put in a bot with a nut.

 

Haven't used the welding procedure on my MINI, but many times at work for a similar problem. Given that the bolt is rusted in so tightly, the welded nut would probably break off in the same way as the original head. So I would agree that the best course of action would be to drill it out, and replace with a nut and bolt. The correct grade of bolt to use should be stamped into the original, sheared off head.

 

So I’m about 40% through with my smallest drill bit that would cut metal. It’s probably only a millimeter or two smaller than the bolt, and I’m just shy of dead center. Even with my free hand corded drill I seem to be going straight. I’ve been at this since 9 (11 now) so it’s slow going, but I feel confident in my perceived outcome.

What is everyone’s suggestions when I get to the other side and the shell of the bolt still remains inside the knuckle? I’m thinking about heating then using an easy out to tear it up/pull it out.

 

Go You!

You can try the ez-out and heat. Just don’t damage the threads or break the ez-out. A broken ez-out won’t be easy to remove. Personally, I wouldn’t spend a lot of time at it before I drilled it out in total, bought an inch longer bolt and nut and called it done

 

I am almost clear through. I don’t care to reuse the threads.

whats the next step to opening the pinch and releasing the strut?

 

The drill bit didn’t take the bolt down to thread and the next size up just kept getting stuck, so I dawned through the two sides of the fan that the bolt goes through on the strut. I’ll replace the bit in the picture with a bolt of equal size and a nut.

Ill replace tge knuckle later.

 

The new bolt is half the size of the original. Y’all think I’ll be okay ?

 

Sounds too small to me.
I’d drill it out bigger.

 

You will want to put in the original size bolt. The idea is to have a bolt strong enough to bend the steering knuckle around the strut and make it a tight fit. A bolt that is 1/2 the diameter of the original has only 1/4th the strength of the original. With all of the work you have done, it seems that it will be just a little more effort to be able to put in the right size bolt. Also, with the right size bolt, you shouldn’t have to replace the knuckle later on.

 

If the next size keeps locking up,
then go up 2 sizes instead, and
keep going to the original bolt size.

 

A small chunk of rubber came out from inside the knuckle of the bushing for the control arm.

i can’t replace it until February. I have to drive it.

Any thoughts?

 

Is this the bushing between the control arm and the mount to the car body, that is towards the rear of the car?

Clean the place it came out of with brake parts cleaner and then fill it with silicone glue? Let it setup for a day...
Not the best but might hold things together for a month.

 

When I popped the head of my pinch bolt, After spending too much time and money trying to drill that bolt out, I realized it was easier and cheaper spending $45 getting a used knuckle from a NAM member. For future members having this problem and reading this thread, it takes countless HOURS trying to drill the pinch bolt out. Do yourself a favor, if the bolt head pops, STOP, get on NAM, find a used unit and replace the whole thing.......

 

yup

i still have to make the hole bigger.

I didn’t know I could get parts here. It didn’t occur to me, my other issue is that I couldn’t get the ABS out of my knuckle, so I’m followibg through with the hole.

it took an entire Saturday to get my small hole, and I was EXHAUSTED.

i got the other side out with a lot of heat, an impact drill and pb blaster, but the threads on the bolt were flattened and the hole still sooooo rusty.