Rear beam lower shock thread gone - help!

[eon172]

Hi,
Been slowly reconditioning the rear end of my 172 cup, previously shot blasted and painted rear beam and mounts, powerflex bushes, suspension refresh cleaned up stub axles and painted callipers which I'm about to rebuild, new brakes to make up ...the whole shabang.

Just fitting the reconditioned whiteline arb today, went well until refitting lower shock bolts (new OEM ones), and the worst happened. Went in absolutely fine, just torquing it up and felt like the bolt was snapping/twisting - it wasn't, it was the axle thread being chewed up. Evident by the shredded metal falling out when removing it. Rechecked it, yep its f**ked.

No idea why it happened, might be just bad luck, totally gutted to say the least

Does any have any advice on how to go about rectifying this without a new beam? Was thinking e.g.
- Oversized bolt and add nylon nut on the inside
- cut out and re-weld the bolt carrier/thread (don't know if these parts can be bought separately from renault, otherwise would have to go second hand)

Any help would be much appreciated. I've got till near end of August to have the whole car finished for a booked track day, though seems an up-hill struggle lately and starting to fall out of love with it

 

[Mike@Rentech]

Google Thread wizard

 

[eon172]

Google Thread wizard

Thanks for the tip, that's certainly a good place to start - mobile too! ;-)

 

[Mike@Rentech]

He does a good job as well, saved one of my customers over £700 by sorting out a cross threaded issue.

 

[eon172]

He does a good job as well, saved one of my customers over £700 by sorting out a cross threaded issue.

@Mike@Rentech Thanks allot for the recommendation, I now see light at the end of the tunnel again

'Dave' @ Thread Wizard is a top bloke, we decided it was too far away to make it cost effective for me to have him come so far, so he preceded to talk me through sourcing the kit and and how to go about it myself, even to ring back when I come to do it for more advice - total gentlemen!!

 

[eon172]

I believe the bolts on Renault are metric, so for completeness and future reference, here's the recoil kit I'm going to buy to fix this....

"Recoil 35128 M12 Pro XL Series Metric Thread Repair Kit by Recoil"


http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GSPDE90/?tag=cliospnet01-21

 

[bloke]

Not wanting.to state the obvious but just stick a nut on it.

 

[mattjk]

Not wanting.to state the obvious but just stick a nut on it.

Yeah I agree. You may need to get a longer bolt tho as I cant remember if it protrudes enough

 

[eon172]

Not wanting.to state the obvious but just stick a nut on it.

That's what I thought first, and probably what I'm going to end up doing anyway. Although the recoil product is more than adequate, for this situation a longer bolt and a nyloc nut + washer is cheaper. Plus as I'm fitting an ARB, I need a longer bolt.

 

[bloke]

the standard bolt is fine with the arb, think it might even be long enough to get a nut on as well?

 

[Paprika123]

I just put a longer bolt and a nut on mines after it died.

 

[eon172]

the standard bolt is fine with the arb, think it might even be long enough to get a nut on as well?

With only the ARB on yes it is definitely long enough, but IMHO there isn't enough thread to put a nut on securely and satisfy my paranoia

 

[eon172]

I just put a longer bolt and a nut on mines after it died.

So I'm not the only unlucky bugger then.
You did use a high tensile bolt of at least 10.9 rating didn't you?

 

[eon172]

I just put a longer bolt and a nut on mines after it died.

Where did you get your bolt from, proving difficult to find one on ebay?

 

[Paprika123]

It was a bolt I found in my toolbox.

Lasted fine on track too.

 

[mattjk]

So I'm not the only unlucky bugger then.
You did use a high tensile bolt of at least 10.9 rating didn't you?

May I suggest arranging all your heater vents parallel to each other for maximum equal air distribution also.

 

[eon172]

May I suggest arranging all your heater vents parallel to each other for maximum equal air distribution also.

Eh?