captive nut repair question

[Ado Sigal]

All the cars with 4 bolts subframe on which the suspension arms are 
connected to, must have provision for susp. geometry adjustment (castor 
angle), and that is why 3 captive nuts are floating (loose) and one is 
fixed. This aprox. 2 mm either way movement, provides adjustment in 
region of 10 - 15 mm on the wheel end. The cars without the subframe 
(where susp. arms attach directly to the body, the attachment points are 
fixed, since the adjustment for castor is via threaded portion of the 
arm rod. Providing your car has the 4 bolt subframe, you can find (and 
loosen non fixed captive nuts), by loosening bolts for a turn or so, and 
hitting them square on with hefty hammer. Providing that there is no 
bolts seized to sub. bush tube, one bolt would produce solid sound while 
other three would not. Fixed nut is usually on the left (driver) side 
rear on the front sub. For the rear I think is the same position, but 
not sure.

Cheers,

Ado

thejimrose wrote:

> better late than never. thanks for the input but.. is that a riddle? 
>  what do you mean 3 are free and 1 is fixed? captive nuts may be a 
> misnomer, on my a4 there are 4 threaded inserts or nuts welded to the 
> back of the panel. none are captive "floating" nuts like in a subframe.
>  
> i verified this on the other side. apparently later a4's had 3 bolts 
> and a stud supporting the rear upper shock mount. all 4 nuts on the 
> other side of the car are fixed, welded, whatever. a nut attached to 
> the backside of the sheetmetal by a restrictive and unseen force.
>  
> maybe i'll try the jedi mindtrick...
>  
> ive actually been driving it on 3 bolts and no worries so far. im sure 
> that 4th bolt was more for the sake of german anal retentive 
> overengineered symmetry than any structural reality.
>
>  
> On 10/18/06, Ado Sigal <a.sigal at bluewin.ch <mailto:a.sigal at bluewin.ch>> wrote:
>
>     Late in thread, but one should note that three captive nuts are free,
>     and one is fixed, as per subframe.
>
>     Ado
>
>