Topic

Not long ago in response to a question on a control arm swap I added my recommendation for using the correct pinch bolt & to ensure that the unthreaded portion of the bolt should rest in the machined groove in the bottom ball joint stub kingpin.
I’ve changed a number of control arms & in all cases it’s been a battle to remove the bolt but providing everything is cleaned & aligned the new bolt should pop in, nutted up & torqued.
Now to illustrate how not to do it here are a couple of pictures of the bolt I removed from Richard’s car.

That bolt is totally, absolutely, irrecoverably and monstrously fornicated beyond all redemption!

Does that mean no good then?

It’s not long past it’s MOT & should have been monumental castigated at the outset.
At least it had a washer at head & nut, both were rattling about, I stripped out all the brake gear, which wasn’t too bad but you could see the kingpin crown showing with only an eighth of an inch between it & the stub axle.
With each section supported correctly & with tension on the hub, one stout crack with my big blacksmiths hammer & the mangled relic skittered across the floor & out through the door taking a chunk of dustbin as it passed
He really wants the other side doing & Richard wouldn’t know where to start, so I gave him the correct bolt to ensure that whoever does it has a fighting chance of doing it correctly.
You’re sounding much better Cobb’s, that’s good.
M

Clearly you need to do better..... rather than ricocheting off the bin it should've lobbed straight into it, where it belonged!
Must try harder next time.

Some things which should be discarded with haste get reprieved due to their dire states. Death masks are far from pretty but for those whose inner ghoul gets the better of them, you’ll find a queue for the best view.
It’ll go into the box of black engineering failures along with a brake pad whose once padded side now has arc striated on its surface & a disc warn so thin you might shave with it.
M

An old mate who should've known better (he's a bloody mechanic) had a BMW 2002Tii, he wore the brake pads so far down they managed to effectively work like a lathe with a parting tool, the discs snapped off their hubs! It must've been making a hideous noise for some considerable time to part the discs from the hubs on both sides. The grating noise would've been bad enough, butit must've been virtually undriveable when the 1st disc failed, to continue driving it until the other failed beggers belife.
Mind you he is a marine engine mechanic, and boats don't have brakes....but still!

There’s a useless, yet entertaining, waste of half an hour or so, if one is inclined; watch “Just rolled in” on YouTube.
Here you will find Americans answer to disaster on the roads, after only a short time you will be less critical of our MOT system.
After our older vehicles reach a venerable age, those fortunate to own one (or two) pay no road tax, although you have to go through the DVLA routine without bothering your card; you are free of the MOT test also, providing the vehicle is original.
A Land Rover Defender taking on the persona of a scrap series 2 with the aid of a John Bull printing set & some cheap Chinese letter punches will only get you so far, even with a fake white on black plate.
My lad & I told him, but he’s always been a dick, now he’s in bother & he might loose his car due to the parentage of some suspect parts.
Good one Garry.
M

Some states here in Oz have an annual mandatory inspection and some don't, there is bugger all difference in accident rates between those that do and those that don't, and those accidents caused by mechanical failure are relatively rare by far the biggest cause can be summed up as driver stupidity albeit inattention, farting about with mobile phones, good old fashioned lack of skills, not driving to the conditions, tailgating, drink/drug driving and the old favourite being a total dick behind the wheel.

James May, late of Top Gear had a catch all phrase & if you live by this, well done.

“Don’t be a cock”