"Future Heap Owner" (aperiodic)
09/17/2018 at 10:30 • Filed to: Truckcess, Truckpdate, wrenching
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"Future Heap Owner" (aperiodic)
09/17/2018 at 10:30 • Filed to: Truckcess, Truckpdate, wrenching | 4
| 7 |
After many days with my truck looking like this, I’ve finally got it back to the state it was in three weeks ago, before I stupidly broke the thermostat housing bolt!
I’m counting this as a self-induced victory.
That there is the replacement thermostat housing bolt. I ended up shredding the old bolt to smithereens in the process of drilling out an oversized hole. Then I tapped the hole and put a helicoil in.
It was my first time tapping new threads, and I was worried that I wouldn’t align the tool properly and end up with cross-threaded threads or something. Fortunately the tool seems to self-align, because it was turning perfectly with absolutely zero wobble after the first few turns.
I was also worried that the hand-steadied hole I drilled out would be too askance for the bolt to sit flush, but the bolt head is looking level, so I think I’m good there.
A big reason why I got this truck was being able to wrench without fear of mistakes, so in a way I’m glad I’ve made a big mistake already. I’ve got some hard-earned lessons:
* give bolts at least a few turns by hand to make sure you’re not cross-threading them
* as soon as you realize you’re cross threading something, back it out!
* if you can’t thread it in properly after that, you need to do something about the threads.
* you might not need to drill a new hole if you drill out the bolt with left-hand threads.
* tapping new threads isn’t hard.
Plus it gave me the excuse to buy tons of tools.
Many thanks to all the oppos that offered advice as I worked on this. Probably wouldn’t have gotten through it without y’all.
Now that it’s running, I’m planning to do a few smaller repairs before starting the rough idle investigation. The parking brake release cable snapped, so I have a replacement from the yard to plumb in as soon as I feel like wrestling with those damn plastic tabs (in the mean time I can’t park on hills). I also seem to need a new engine temperature sensor for the gauge in the dash; despite replacing the broken connector, the gauge doesn’t go above 160 or so (I know the gauge is good because it goes all the way over when I ground it out).
It sure feels good to have a working vehicle again after weeks of stumbling in the general direction of progress.
P.S.: sorry I didn’t take process shots, I’m really bad at remembering to take those. I’ll try to get in the habit.
Urambo Tauro
> Future Heap Owner
09/17/2018 at 11:26 |
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Good work! B roken fasteners can be really stressful. Glad you got it!
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Future Heap Owner
> Urambo Tauro
09/17/2018 at 11:52 |
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It was stressful but now I’m much more prepared to handle the next one (which I figure is a matter of time; some of the bolts on the underside look fairly rusted).
You’ve been a particularly good source of information. Thanks again for all the help!
traitor joe
> Future Heap Owner
09/17/2018 at 12:11 |
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One thing I always do to prevent cross-threading is to start the bolt counter-clockwise while applying downward pressure. As soon as the bolt drops into the hole a little bit, you know it has reached the starting point of the threads.
shop-teacher
> Future Heap Owner
09/17/2018 at 12:22 |
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Excellent work!
merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> Future Heap Owner
09/17/2018 at 12:31 |
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A wire wheel on a bench grinder is a great tool to have available, if not that, then a wire wheel in a drill will work. I clean every bolt on the wire wheel, and some times it’s nice to have a metric tap and die set to chase threads clean and to chase the holes out too.
That extra few minutes to clean the threads will pay dividends in the end. If the wire brushing doesn’t allow the bolt to hand thread, then out come the tap and die set.
Glad you got through you’re ordeal successfully. We’ve all been there a time or two.
I definitely need a set of left hand drills though, just in case.
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Future Heap Owner
> merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
09/17/2018 at 13:03 |
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Ooh cool, I was hoping there was something to try in between “hand turning the bolt” and “tapping new threads.”
Is there any worry about wearing down the threads on the bolt? I did hand scrub the replacement bolt (from the yard) because it had some gunk on it, but I got worried I might be scrubbing away more metal than gunk, so I ended up scraping the gunk our with an exacto knife.
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merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc
> Future Heap Owner
09/17/2018 at 13:17 |
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No worries about scraping away material. The wire brush will be fine. And if the fastener is too far gone, you’ll want to replace it anyway. Better to know before you give it a twist with the wrench.