need a fix for stripped threads
 

I stripped the threads on a rear wheel bolt. Threw away the bolt, but the axle threads look like toast. Priced a heli-coil at $85 and have decided an alternate solution may be best. Anyone else run into this problem before?

The threads are 12x1.50mm for anyone who wants to know. I need to install my wheel studs anyway, so maybe you can work that into the plan also.

$85 for a heli-coil? That's outrageous... they're only like $45 canadian for the kit at Lordco here...

Maybe weld a bolt in? That wouldn't be too safe though...

Jeff

Helicoil is the only way really ... unless you pull a new halfshaft from a breakers yard

Sometimes if the gods smile on you it's possible to run a same-sized tap through there and force mashed threads back into shape.

A single tap (looks like a bolt with a pointed tip and 4 gouges taken out of the sides) should only cost you $2- $5 at the hardware store, but the handle (vital to spinning it straight and not damaging your threads even more) is about $15-$20.

I bought a complete tap and die set to fix stripped bolts, threads, etc for $50 CDN with a lifetime warranty.

I travel so often between LA and Saskatoon, last time I was in Cali I found myself looking in the pone book for the nearest Canadian Tire. Motomaster might be medium-grade stuff, but if the tool breaks they replace it without question & it costs about 1/2 that of Craftsman.

have fun tapping a brake rotor, or drum... they're hardened steel, and the tap'll break, unless you get a good one...

And if you get the end of a tap stuck in something, you might as well say goodbye to the piece it's stuck in, 'cause it's almost impossible to get out, or drill out...


Jeff

last time I checked brake rotors and drums were just plain old cast steel

not hard at all take a file to a spare one and find out

hmmm, mine are pretty hard, then again I've never had to tap or file them :p: therefore, I don't have a spare :D

But, I have turned a rotor on a lathe at school, and it was hard shit, you could only go in like .001 (one-thousandth)

Jeff

Remember, he'll only be tapping the existing hole with a same-sized tap, straightening bent threads. If the steel were that hard the threads wouldn't have mashed in the first place.

yeah, it's just not my day... look at my other thread regarding "Guess I won't be getting my alignment and exhaust fixed..."

Jeff

I've never tried to file one but its a standardish test to see if somthings been hardened

We had a really fun time trying to drill a hole in the end of a alfa Romeo twin cam engines crank to accept a Skoda Rapide clutch release bearing ( don't ask :D ) that had been tufftrided ... in the end we gave up and devised a new method using a flat ground on the nose of the crank

The threads are in the axle shaft not the brake rotor, I thought about threadinig it in and welding the back, but I'm not so sure, thinking I might go with drilling it out and putting in a press in stud, either way sucks because I have to remove the axle.

That's right. I cross threaded one of my rear wheel bolt threads as well (damn pesky things) so I just I ran a tap through it. It also depends on how stuffed the thread is. I got away with it because I only cross threaded it part of the way before I realised.

Comon dude. How long does it take to pull an axle? About 15mins tops. :)

how about mikes idea. drill and tap a more popular bolt pattern 45 degrees off the stock holes.

there's a possibility of weakening the axle flange. Why go through all that stress over one screwed up threading?

hum, lets see. maybe to be able to slect from more then 3 wheels and 2 diameters. it was mainly a joke. you would need to weld in the existing holes to add a bit of strength to that part of the radius, possibly welding some large diameter washers around the new holes to distribute the force of the stud and thicken the material up. i would think it would stand up fine as long as you weren't rallying. of course the easiest route is to upgrade to a gsl/se suspension.