I stupidly attempted to change the drop link on the driver side of my skoda fabia (1.4 comfort) today. I thin it is the drop link - it has a bolt top and bottom, attached at top halfway up the suspension strut and at the bottom to anti-roll bar?

Anyway the bottom one popped out of the ball inside the rubber when I was trying to undo it - but that nut is 95% off now. The top one is spinning and I tried getting hold of the back of it behind the rubber with mole grips and although I've got it looser than it was, there is a long way to go and I ran out of daylight and I really need some advice as to the best way to get it off.

I have another to go on it which I took off of another fabia with no problem at all - I just undid it and didn't have to stop it spinning at all. There is a allen key type hole in the end of the threaded part - but I have tried allen keys and also the star shape tools and cannot find one to fit.

I know I am being thick, but is it driveable without a drop link on one side - to get it to a garage about a mile away?

My son has a hospital appointment tomorrow and I am panicking about how to sort this, any tips more than welcome.

(btw I can usually sort this stuff out, I had no problem with changing the head gasket on the same car last year and have recently changed the brake pads but feeling highly incompetent right now!

Get a decent torch behind it and see why your allen key won't fit in the hole?

 

It may just be filled with dirt or something and is an easy fix. Should be fine to drive though or put it back on to drive to the garage.

You either need to get it off or get it back on

You can drive with it off or on but i wouldnt want to drive it half on / half off....

Could get caught up in something

That sounds like the drop links yeah.

Some are very awkward to remove, I just make sure I do the prep work first... wire brush a lot! Wd40, mole grips on the inside and then go for it.

Yeah it's ok to drive with it removed / loose aslong as it's still attached at both ends so it doesn't get caught up in anything

4 and 1/2 inch grinder is the tool you want if all else fails.

There's proberly just some rust/crap in the threads, just keep winding the nut on and off until it eases up. But as the above post says wd40 ect will make it easier.

 

Failing that can you get a grinder or hacksaw blade in there to cut it loose?

Most are torx drive and not allen keys.

Destroy the old droplink by pulling it completely off the ball joints so that all you have left is the balljoints with their nuts still on. Clean any grease off balljoints, then use a pipe wrench to grip the balljoints whilst you try to undo the nut. That has worked many times for me but If the nut simply won't shift I resort to an angle grinder or hacksaw to cut it off.

 

By pipe wrench, I mean one of these, which are far better than mole grips for this job....

 

 

 

yes as rover220 said they are the torx which sounds like have broken like mine did, from memory spray with wd40 i then jacked up the car, removed the wheel i  used an axle stand,  i then used a trolley jack to take the weight, whilst putting the torx into the middle of the bolt i then used an open ended spanner to undo the nut. i undone mine once and felt every bump for 30 miles not pleasant. give it a go.

Some are a spanner to stop it spinning. Depends what type are fitted

Thanks for all the ideas - I've already WD40'd it and both top and bottom have started moving - it's just the spinning thing and I've got a torx set but one was too big and one too small! I think I'll do the wire brush thing and try to find something that fits in the ?torx hole, or whatever it is. I tried the mole grips and the bottom one is now so close to being undone - I think I run out of energy and I stabbed my thumb with a screwdriver which p***ed me off. The bottom one is nearly off as I said, and it has popped off the ball/socket bit behind the rubber. The top one didn't seem to want to do the same but I bent it quite a lot and zip tied it out of the way. If I can get my son to college in the morning (slowly over the speedhumps) - it's only a mile there and back, but he won't walk there cos he had his lower leg amputated in August so I have to do the 'taxi' thing. But I am reassured that I will not kill my car by doing so and then I can have a better look with no pressure - update to follow  :think: feeling better about it now (glad I'm not the only one to have a problem with this!)

Ruin the ball joint and use the molegrips to hold it ball joint

Problem now solved - I drove it to the college and straight to the garage, and paid them (a tenner!!) to finish the job. They said it was easy to undo it when you know how, and then they ended up using a grinder to cut the top bolt off - which made me feel much better about giving up. Thanks for the advice, and for letting me know it was ok to drive a short way like it was - saved a lot of struggling with it myself - cheers all  !