[s-cars] Follow up...Re: How many AAA ramp trucks does it take...

[Fred Munro]

Peter;

Replace the strut. Once the slot has been pried open you can't get it back
to shape. You'd have to collapse it past the shape you want so that when the
metal springs back it is in the right shape. The slot won't let you collapse
it that far. That strut housing will never reliably hold a ball joint.
As I'm sure you are aware, the correct bolt for that service does not have
an Allen head, and should always be replaced with a new bolt and nut when
removed. Cheap insurance.....
However, if you know who did that work on your car I can think of a few
creative uses for that Allen head bolt.....

Fred Munro
'97 S6





-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Peter Schulz
Sent: November 7, 2007 10:24 AM
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Follow up...Re: How many AAA ramp trucks does it
take...


Followup to the fiasco last month....

Summary, I'm out of town, the Mrs calls and says that passenger front
wheel is stuffed in the wheel well.

Fast forward - strut has slipped out of the ball joint on lower
control arm, pinch bolt is still in place, outer CV joint has pulled
off the axle and is only held in place by the boot.

I am able to remove the wheel and pinch bolt (which is missing a good
number of threads AND has an allen head.
The balljoint boot is torn, but CV boot is intact.

Mike Sylvester helped me ( ok HE did most of the work), get the CV
joint back on the axle, and we together are able to get the the axle
back into the wheel housing and  strut re attached to the ball joint...

And Mike notices that the pinch slot on the strut/wheel housing has
been forced apart at some point in time (the opening is V shaped, so
evidently it was pried apart.  We have some difficulty in getting a
new pinch bolt inserted for this reason (opening should be more || shaped)

At this point we believe that the reason the accident occured was
because of the pinch slot being forced open, and then trying to close
it by overtightening the pinch bolt with an impact wrench...

At this time the car is driveable, but I plan on replacing the lower
control arm with a new one (due to the torn ball joint boot), using a
vice to close the gap on the pinch slot, etc...but since the car has
230 k miles, and I have a spare subframe, I'm going to go all out
with new subframe bushings, etc, and do this right...(especially
since its the wife's DD, and she is driving mine the last month)

So head the warning about NOT opening the pinch slot...and if you are
getting a mystery CLUNK from the front end when in a turn at low
speed, check the gap on the pinch slot...

HTH

-Peter






> > > Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:41:00 -0400
> > > From: Peter Schulz <pcschulz at comcast.net>
> > > Subject: [s-cars] How many AAA ramp trucks does it take...
> > > To: s-car-list at audifans.com
> > > Message-ID: <20071003014250.C965918000061 at audifans.com>
> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
> > >
> > > To tow my wife's S6 wagon with a broken tie rod????
> > >
>
>-Peter Schulz
>Chelmsford Ma, USA
>http://www.naaclub.org/
>
>1995.5 S6 Avant Emerald/Ecru
>1995.5 S6 Avant Silver/Platinum
>1991 200 20v Q Avant Titan Grey (for sale)
>1991 90 20v Q Red
>1991 CQ silver  (eS2 recipient)
>
>_______________________________________________
>S-CAR-List mailing list
>S-CAR-List at audifans.com
>http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list

-Peter Schulz
Chelmsford Ma, USA
http://www.naaclub.org/

1995.5 S6 Avant Emerald/Ecru
1995.5 S6 Avant Silver/Platinum
1991 200 20v Q Avant Titan Grey (for sale)
1991 90 20v Q Red
1991 CQ silver  (eS2 recipient)

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