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I don't know the technical term for it but that's what I got.
There are two nipples that are threaded that stick out from the engine block to where the CV Axle bolts down to. I believe one of these bolts broke off a long time ago and I was riding on only one bolt. Last Thursday I was cruising in traffic on the freeway and the other bolt broke off but took part of the nipple with it.
See the right red arrow in the image for the one that broke off.
The mechanic was able to get the broken bolts out and put in new ones but for the one on the right, he put a washer and a locknut in place of where the nipple should have been. He said it was the best he can do.
Any advice on what to do with this or how I can best patch this up? I don't know how long it will last this way. I'm not in a position to buy a new engine block or sell the car at the moment.
not really much you can do...it would be difficult to weld or braze it with it in the car. plus then you'd have to grind, and file it to the size it was and drill and tap it...it would have to be pretty much perfect otherwise you'd risk damaging the bearing bracket...
Last edited by CrAnSwIcK; Oct 6, 2015 at 09:20 PM.
not really much you can do...it would be difficult to weld or braze it with it in the car. plus then you'd have to grind, and file it to the size it was and drill and tap it...it would have to be pretty much perfect otherwise you'd risk damaging the bearing bracket...
I'd say about half an inch.
I was trying to look for some heat resistant putty that hardens so that I can goop it over the bolt/locknut/washer but didn't find much. I'm no mechanic so I'm not even sure if that's a solid idea since if I ever had to replace it I'd have to chisel it off.
Btw, is this some what common? I dont drive her hard but she does have 186k miles on her.
Dreadful problem that you have there, I hope it only happened because the bolts were slack, I cannot imagine it was from some other source of vibration.
Find a welder who works with cast iron and go from there.
You are lucky to be in California so your chances probably improve.
An alternative is to make an intermediate plate that will mount to other holes on the block then have the axle bracket bolt to that plate. Space is limited so the CV bracket may need to be shaved to accommodate the plate, that's ok though as it is a thick bastard.
If you do make the plate, make 2, I will pay good money for one.
Please update as you work through this.
If there is about 1/2" thread depth, here is what I'd try:
Use a bottoming tap to try to cut another thread or so at the bottom of the hole.
File the top of the broken nipple more flat, taking off a minimum of material.
Use washers or a custom machined ferrule to get the nipple back to its original height.
Assemble using some blue loctite on the screw threads.
If you don't like that, the idea of a plate that uses some of the other existing nipples for support is fine too. If anyone wants to measure the hole pattern and sketch it, then make one out of cardboard to check your design, I'd be happy to make a good one out of steel plate and send it to you for just shipping cost (2006_RA?). I can include some machined spacers to make up height also.
Last edited by RalliartN; Oct 7, 2015 at 10:28 AM.
For the suggestion with the washers/custom machined ferrule to get the nipple back to it's original height, I believe that's what the mechanic did with the washer/locknut he used. It just doesn't feel like a for sure fix. I recently moved and my commute is 75 miles one way to work. It will be around 6-8 months before I can move back and have a 10-15 mile commute.
A custom plate sounds like a great idea. I will have time to get under there this weekend and see what I can come up with.
First pic shows dimensions.
The nipple that's broken off was 1/2 inch in height shown in green.
The yellow dimensions show the clearance between those nipples and the axle. The nipple on the far left has almost no clearance.
It is 1 and 1/4 of an inch between the center of each nipple.
Second pic shows clearance and the yellow line points to where the bolt and washer was put in place of the broken nipple.
What I think is going to make this rough is that there is hardly any clearance and the plate will have to bend or have a step so that it can go from sitting on top of the nipples to resting where the broken nipple was. I have an idea on how this could work but it's hard for me to draw it out.
If you feel this is worth pursuing, let me know and I can get under there again and cut some pieces of cardboard up and glue them together to make a mockup of this.
Good. And you are correct, a 3-D cardboard mock-up that fits correctly would have to be created. Then generate a simple set of orthographic drawings, and/or mail me the cardboard template, and/or take enough pics to make the design understandable and use the simple Paint program to add dimensions on those pics.
Last edited by RalliartN; Oct 14, 2015 at 08:33 AM.
Oct 6, 2015, 04:41 PM
Advice for broken engine screw hole nipple
