I have to replace one of the front dampers on my Felicia to get it through the MOT. I went and bought new bits and today decided to do the work. The nut on the lower damper clamp came off easily - it took about as much effort as a wheel bolt. I thought that the job was going rather easily so far. Now it was time to get the bolt out of the clamp.

I applied some force to the head with my trusty socket wrench to see it would unscrew out but no, the head decided to shear off instead. Bugger. Now I have the joy of trying to remove a seized bolt with no head from the hole. It's going to take a bit longer that I had hoped. :(

Any ideas on how to remove the pesky bolt?

this happened to me a couple of weeks ago (head sheared off bolt).

if the nut and thread are sound on the other end-

place a thick washer under nut and tighten but make sure you dont overdo it and strip thread,

then get a suitable drift /large punch and apply it to the sheared off end of the stud-give it a few firm clouts with hammer.

then tighten the nut end a bit more- if need be remove nut and place more washers under nut.keep repaeting this and the bolt will gradually shift (all the time keep applying wd40 or similar)

it took me aprox 5-6mins to remove bolt this way-(you are actully pulling the bolt through the clamp the wrong way)

good luck, tibsy:thumbup:

if you get really stuck you should be able to remove the shock wiith the hub still attached (split the ball joint and track rod end and take off driveshaft nut) then you can clamp it in a vice so you can drift it out with a centre punch

PlusGas it, then have a cuppa before you even try the other guys' suggestions.

8mm punch and drift it out, thats how i do it.

Well after having the offending bolt stew in WD40 for a day and them applying more of the stuff it came out with the repeated persuasion of a hammer. Yay! Damper now successfully changed.

good man.