Mazda2 2009 1.3L Control arm pinch bolt issue

[ockertyron]

Hello Everybody, just on the lookout for a bit of advice please.

My lad has a 2009 Mazda 2. It is 1.3 ltr FWD DE DH 63KW 86HP JZ46.

It failed it's MOT and the garage wanted £900 to replace a couple of tyres and both front control arms. It is a lot of money for an 18 year old (and me!) So I decided to have a go at it myself.

The control arm bolts came off with a bit of elbow grease, but the pinch bolt is as stuck as anything I've ever worked on. It has obviously been worked on before because the nut and bolt are both stripped round so I don't know how to get the damn thing off. I was going to drill it out and just use a new one..but here is my problem...

I can't seem to find a pinch bolt for this version of the Mazda 2! I have found plenty of bolts that look similar and fit other Mazda 2's but if I put the registration number into these online parts stores, it says this item will not fit your car (but fits all other variants of the same year??)

What am I missing here? Why would this Mazda 2 be different to all the others? Can't be this difficult to find a bloody bolt?

Any help would be much appreciated. I'm stumped.
Andrew.

 

[edmaz]

If you're forced to drill that bolt out, then it's highly unlikely you will be able to do a perfectly clean job of drilling, and will create some scoring, perhaps a lot of it. So why not just hold off buying a replacement bolt, until the old one is completely out. At that point you go buy a few grade 8 bolts from a hardware store, and try them to see what fits best (perhaps even expand the hole a bit if necessary. Then, once you find the best fitting bolt, just use either red thread locker or epoxy to lock up the threads after you torque the nut and bolt together. It's a pinch bolt, so all that matters is that it doesn't loosen up. If a repeat is ever necessary, just do the same thing again (you'll be very good at it by that time).

Alternatively, perhaps you can find a similar vehicle in a junkyard and pull the knuckle and bolt from that one and trade one set of work for another.

 

[ockertyron]

If you're forced to drill that bolt out, then it's highly unlikely you will be able to do a perfectly clean job of drilling, and will create some scoring, perhaps a lot of it. So why not just hold off buying a replacement bolt, until the old one is completely out. At that point you go buy a few grade 8 bolts from a hardware store, and try them to see what fits best (perhaps even expand the hole a bit if necessary. Then, once you find the best fitting bolt, just use either red thread locker or epoxy to lock up the threads after you torque the nut and bolt together. It's a pinch bolt, so all that matters is that it doesn't loosen up. If a repeat is ever necessary, just do the same thing again (you'll be very good at it by that time).

Alternatively, perhaps you can find a similar vehicle in a junkyard and pull the knuckle and bolt from that one and trade one set of work for another.

Thank you for the advice, all sounds good. I have no idea how I'm going to get the bolt out without drilling though. It is stuck solid and the nut and bolt are rounded off.

 

[edmaz]

Thank you for the advice, all sounds good. I have no idea how I'm going to get the bolt out without drilling though. It is stuck solid and the nut and bolt are rounded off.

Ok, I somehow got the impression that you had already cut off one or both ends of the bolt, and couldn't drive it out. But now it sounds that perhaps you're still just trying to turn the nut and bolt (without success). If that's in fact the case, then perhaps you won't need to drill it out. You may very well be able to simply hammer the bolt out by driving another bolt into it with a 2 KG hammer. First cut off the end that gives the best access to hammer, using an angle grinder or a Dremel with a metal cutoff wheel attachment, and then give it a go.

 

[ockertyron]

Ok, I somehow got the impression that you had already cut off one or both ends of the bolt, and couldn't drive it out. But now it sounds that perhaps you're still just trying to turn the nut and bolt (without success). If that's in fact the case, then perhaps you won't need to drill it out. You may very well be able to simply hammer the bolt out by driving another bolt into it with a 2 KG hammer. First cut off the end that gives the best access to hammer, using an angle grinder or a Dremel with a metal cutoff wheel attachment, and then give it a go.

Ok Thanks. I have just purchased a nut and bolt remover set for not a lot of money, I will try it tomorrow. If no good, I'll have a go with what you recommended. Any guesses to why it is easy to find a pinch bolt for other Mazda 2's but my model seems to be different? (although the bolts look very similar - I wonder if my car is not listed or something. Surely my car cant be different to another 2009 mazda 2?)
Thanks for your help.

 

[edmaz]

Ok Thanks. I have just purchased a nut and bolt remover set for not a lot of money, I will try it tomorrow. If no good, I'll have a go with what you recommended. Any guesses to why it is easy to find a pinch bolt for other Mazda 2's but my model seems to be different? (although the bolts look very similar - I wonder if my car is not listed or something. Surely my car cant be different to another 2009 mazda 2?)
Thanks for your help.

No, I have no idea about the bolt discrepancy, and it's certainly possible they did just leave your model out by mistake. One thing you could do is check to see if the same knuckle part number fits all of the Mazda 2 models. If it does, then surely the bolt will be the same for all of them as well.