I was installing my rear sway bar...all was going well. All put back together and I was just rechecking all my bolts for torque and the left rear upper strut bolt snapped.

I need advice now. I guess the bolt piece that is left in there will have to be drilled out/tapped. This sucks.

 

That sucks. If I remember correctly it felt like I might tear the head off those bolts when I was torquing them on our car.

I'm not sure what your best option is here, but you might want to look into a Helicoil.

 

Well that is the easy part.:smile: Just get your self an "easy out"....at least that is what I call it....it is a reverse threaded insert (the good ones have a hex head on them so you can use a socket) on one end. All you have to do is drill a small hole in the part left in (and you might want to try and put a drill on it in reverse to see if it just walks out....nothing but friction holding it in you know) and insert the "easy out" into the hole and ratchet as if you were unscrewing the bolt. The insert will dig in until it "grabs" the bolt and it all comes out with no damage or frustration!

 

I second Aulden. Sometimes they back out with no effort. If it was cross threaded, that is likely a different story.

 

Thank the good lord for SEARS. I ran down and grabbed a screw extractor and got that ***** out of there. What a pain. But its done now. Yay.

 

Yeah, I noticed that the upper strut bolts are listed as one-time-use bolts. So I put some loctite blue on mine and just re-torqued them to spec (as opposed to really tight).

 

Luckily I have another vehicle and I was able to run down to a fastener store and buy a suitable automotive grade replacement.

Saddest part is I finished so late that I have even gotten a chance to test the thing out...its almost bed time.

Tommorow is a new day.

 

You'll be very happy tomorrow