Urgent - Can't get N/S lower shock bolt back in!

[chaski]

Decided to have a go at this as I said the other day. The other shock's back on fine and both the new springs are seated correctly but I can't get the last bolt back in!! It goes in fine until the last 2cm of bolt, where it gets very tight! I don't want to just force it in case it'll damage the thread in the rear beam. I can't see any damage to the threads currently on either the bolt or the beams thread.

The bolt is a little rusty on the end (but that section seems to go through fine....) and has a tiny blob of lock tite (blue) on it - can't figure out why it won't go back in?! Torque wrench is set to 130nm and clicking everytime I get to this point. Have aligned the holes perfectly and checked it over numerous times, even trying to put the bolt in without the shock attached to make sure it was going in straight!

Can I put any form of grease or anything on it to aid it in? Didn't want to put WD40 on it or anything to clear surface rust away as I thought that'd be a bad idea...

​Any ideas? Need to drive to work tomorrow!!!

 

[DannyR]

Jacked it up and tried?

 

[chaski]

Yeah, it's on axle stands w/ trolley jack holding rear beam up in place so that the holes on the shock + beam are aligned. used a torch and checked fairly thoroughly that they were matching up just right!

 

[Rob]

Wire brush the bolt, check in the hole for anything that might have ended up in there, could be a little bit of metal or anything.

Alternatively, have you checked both bolts are the same length? One may have snapped a bit off in one side, leaving one shorter.

 

[chaski]

Wire brush the bolt, check in the hole for anything that might have ended up in there, could be a little bit of metal or anything.

Alternatively, have you checked both bolts are the same length? One may have snapped a bit off in one side, leaving one shorter.

Will dutifully wire brush the bolt! I was maticulous in not confusing the bolts, everything for the n/s stayed on the n/s of the car and everything for o/s stayed on the o/s so I couldn't make this mistake! I figured they'd go back in easy enough if I put the same bolt back in the same hole but oh how wrong I am!! Haha.

 

[Fraser.J.]

Remove bolt, spray with wd40, wire brush, lubricate with copper slip or similar, try again

 

[Thrill]

Get some WD40 in there.. comes in handy for the shockers!

 

[JamesBryan]

Torque wrench set to 130nm?.... Should be 105nm mate.

 

[chaski]

After some wire brushing, it appears to be going in but it's now squeaking when turning after a certain point, is that normal?

 

[Tony Hunter]

If it's squeaking and it's lubed up, you've cross threaded it.

Try and file the end to a bit of a point, this might help.

 

[chaski]

Hadn't tried any lube before posting about it squeaking as wanted to double check it wasn't a big no-no to lube bolts like that. I lubed it with some WD40 on both the beam thread and the bolt and there was barely any squeaking with the bolt going all the way in on a setting of 105nm! Difference this time is it didn't feel overly difficult to turn until it had gone all the way in - think the jobs a goodun'? Aso, it did squeak when I very first undid it as well, is that's of any significance!

I put the wheels on the floor and pushed the corners around a bit and moved it back and forth on my drive, then checked everything before taking it for a short slow test drive. Rural road with little usage. Checked everything again, drove back checked again. Springs seem to be seated correctly & bolts are still tight!

Never done much with cars before so I'm probably overly cautious but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if someone else got hurt as a result of me not doing a proper job! Thanks for all the help guys, really appreciate it! Was brown panting a bit... would've been a long walk to work!

 

[JamesBryan]

The squeaking will have just been the friction from the rust/old bolt. Had it happen on a few.

Seems like you've sorted it though and not cross threaded it.

 

[Tony Hunter]

All's good then.

 

[Xanda73]

Imagine all the surface area of both the male and female threads there... Bit of lube is always a good idea