Rotarydragon

Ya know the spindle, the thingy (technical term) that the hub goes on then the wheel mounts to?



Yeah that.



Anyway the threads for the upper caliper bolt are banged up really bad. So I figure I'll run a tap in there and fix it. Nope, the cheap tap that I have gets chewed up reaaalllll fast. OK so plan 2, I'll take it off and take it to a machine shop to be rethreaded and/or just replace it with a used one.



I destroyed a socket trying to get the bolts off.



So any suggestions here? Think a better quality tap would survive? Or should I figure out a way of getting the bolts off without destroying them?

Volksjager

i would at least try a good quality tap. are the threads really bad? if that is the case just get a heli-coil kit and rethread it. heli-coils are usally better than the original threads

KompressorLOgic

yeah ive used heli coils before they seem to be very strong

banzaitoyota

mmmm. The caliper bolt holes? I was under the impression that Helicoils were only designed to properly work in a blind hole. I sent a question to EMHART Tech support to get a qualified answer from the design engineers.



If it were my car I would replace the spindle, but thats me

Cheers!

I think banzai is correct. The helicoil is suppose to bottom out on the bottom of a blind hole preventing further rotation of the helicoil when the bolt is fastened. There are two types of helicoils I believe. Free running and screw lock. THe free run bottoms out on the bottom of the blind hole. THe screw lock may work on a through hole. There is a section of the helicoil that expands and ancors on the enlarged tapped hole. But I have a feeling that helicoil will spin until you reach the screw lock thread.



Just get a new spindle. After you buy a proper drill bit. The tap for the helicoil. THe helicoil itself. The helicoil installation tool. The helicoil primer to anchor/epoxy the helicoil in the hole, you couldn't but a good used spindle

KompressorLOgic

yeah true.... heli coil is pretty expensive... and i havnt tried it on something with a through hole.....

Rotarydragon

I doubt that a helicoil would work here as you say, nor do I think I'd trust it.



I'm thinking replace the spindle as you're technically not supposed to cut or mutilate them.

Rotarydragon

Air cooled VW sparkplug holes. They tend to strip out fastest way to fix it is with a helicoil

1988RedT2

Haha. That's the extent of my experience with helicoils. VW 1600 dual-port, #3 cylinder.



The spindle is undoubtedly iron. Surprising to me that the caliper bolt hole would be torn up like that. How are the threads on the bolt?



I vote for replacing the spindle, if you can get it off!

Rotarydragon

The brain surgeons that put it back together decided to cut it down so it would look like it was in place and hold on oh, 3 threads.



I think before it had a different size bolt shoved in there so it was pretty tore up I was a bit surprised as well. So yeah I'm thinking new spindle. I may have to rent an air compressor and air tools to get the bloody thing out of there, I don't think I can hit it fast enough and hard enough to move it. Like I said it shattered a cheap socket on a breaker bar using about a 3 foot cheater.



Probably going to replace those bolts too.



Yeah I can't think of a single Type 3 engine without a helicoil on the number three cylinder. Things got better with the doghouse cooler on later years but it still runs hotter. Better stop talking about this I may loose it and try to find a Karmann Ghia. Hrmm rotary swap...