Stripped thread on brakes Help

[Zebedee2001]

Thought I would have a look at the brakes on the wives 1.4 16V Auto 56 plate Fabia. Took them off & cleaned them up. Went to put one of the calipers back on & the bottom thread stripped in the lower strut/wheel bearing housing. The slide didn't fair much better either. I thought I would temporarily solve the problem by rethreading & fitting a helicoil. Stupidly I thought it was a M10x1.25 thread. Well it isn't. I now have a much bigger threaded whole in the wheel bearing housing. How do I get out of this one?

[Breezy_Pete]

Ebay for a replacement wheel bearing housing. Ask seller to check those threads before despatch, and check on arrival. 

[Zebedee2001]

Is it common for these threads to strip the one on the other side didnt feel too good! Will I need any special tools?

[VanhireBoys]

That's bad luck there 

 

I had this issue a long time ago with a Mk3 Astra ! We tried every thing - even buffing down the lug of the strut and welding a suitable nut on with disaterous results - caliper used to rattle 

 

If you got a suitable bolt the same thread as the helicoil perhaps ?

 

My advice is and I'm no expert is to go to a breakers for another hub carrier - you might be lucky that the wheel bearing is ok - might be the best way out rather than mess around !

[Breezy_Pete]

It tends to happen when folks try screwing the slide pin in before the caliper has been properly lined up.

 

Only ever turn the 7mm hex bit with fingers until sure the thread is not crossed/misaligned.

[Zebedee2001]

So do I try to split the leg on the car & only remove the wheel bearing housing? Never done this on a skoda before but done it several times on a couple of Citroen C3s! I assume the wheel bearing is retained in the wheel bearing housing & I will just need to remove the steering arm, wishbone & driveshaft. Is there a special tool to remove the driveshaft, it looks odd?

 

Not mcuh choice on E-bay at the moment but got an enquiry out on one.

 

Thanks for all the help so far

[Breezy_Pete]

12-point 36mm socket for the driveshaft nut. Needs to have a relatively thin wall, I'll just pop out and measure the OD of one nearby...

[Breezy_Pete]

The one I use is a shade over 48mm O/D, but measuring the recess it looks like anything under 50mm O/D should fit.

 

Tierod end may have a 5.5mm hex socket inside to prevent counter-rotation as you unscrew the nut. Beware of rusty exposed thread. Try to clean off as much of this rust as poss otherwise the nut will jam halfway off and you'll end up cutting stuff.

Wishbone can be disconnected either at the top of the balljoint  or using the three M8 screws that go up into the triple-nut plate.  Again, rusty exposed threads will tend to cause seizure partway off and reaching for cutting tools. Or just accept that they'll shear off and replace (you should anyway, as with the hubnut, and the strut gripping bolt/nut).

You'll also need to spread the hub with something once that bolt is out.

Will be easier to disconnect the whole strut at the top, the three bolts in the engine bay, and swap onto the replacement bearing housing on the bench.

 

[bihslk82]

3 hours ago, Zebedee2001 said:

Thought I would have a look at the brakes on the wives 1.4 16V Auto 56 plate Fabia. Took them off & cleaned them up. Went to put one of the calipers back on & the bottom thread stripped in the lower strut/wheel bearing housing. The slide didn't fair much better either. I thought I would temporarily solve the problem by rethreading & fitting a helicoil. Stupidly I thought it was a M10x1.25 thread. Well it isn't. I now have a much bigger threaded whole in the wheel bearing housing. How do I get out of this one?

I stripped mine caliper bracket holes too and fixed them today with HELICOIL kit. Took 45 min and was easy as hell. It was M9

Edited 18 May, 2020 by bihslk82

[Zebedee2001]

2 minutes ago, bihslk82 said:

I stripped mine too and fixed them today with HELICOIL kit. Took 45 min and was easy as hell

What size is the thread? Where did I go wrong!?

 

[bihslk82]

39 minutes ago, Zebedee2001 said:

What size is the thread? Where did I go wrong!?

 

Both holes stripped fixed with M9 Helicoil repair kit. I dont know if you have same problem 

Edited 18 May, 2020 by bihslk82

[sepulchrave]

These might work since you've drilled it out too much:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/123983390065?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=123983390065&targetid=876869733809&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=1006787&poi=&campaignid=9441267594&mkgroupid=94116367405&rlsatarget=aud-629407026185:pla-876869733809&abcId=1140486&merchantid=113445998&gclid=CjwKCAjw5Ij2BRBdEiwA0Frc9enxpE9kqEz26AlalmSOhLZ2IuzhVqpuCm7pGPsnkfyZ1AILtolO3RoC-AIQAvD_BwE

[rum4mo]

This kit gives you all the bits a bobs, like the correct stepped drill size and a guide to make the spacing is kept correct, maybe better than just the inserts themselves especially if you feel that you might need to do both sides - or even all 4 drilled holes?

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brake-Caliper-Thread-Repair-Kit-M9-Vw-Golf-Mk4-Ford-Focus-C-Max-Vauxhall-Astra/252305383894?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200513093106%26meid%3Dc36ddede65354a4f98312455a1e6de22%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D9%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D123983390065%26itm%3D252305383894%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV1Filter&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

[VWD]

From my experience ,I'd find an old fashioned machine shop. I had this problem and the owner had seen this problem so often on cars with this carrier design. Perhaps it was my planning to arrive with a new bolt/help get the wheel off or have the right adapters to get the bolts off an back on ( or perhaps it was that my SIL was a biker as was the owner), or that I got stuck in to help them, but the job went well and I got a decent job at a favourable price. I'd simply say go find a little bloke where a simple job means a decent price.

[Zebedee2001]

OK - the thread repair kit (insert type) turned up today but I was at work. It looks doable. I will attempt tomorrow! Thanks for pointing me towards it. I've bought all the extra tools in case I need to take it all apart. I was half way though stripping it out (no pun intended) when I saw about the kit. I need to replace the bottom ball joint bolts as I snapped two of those but luckily they turned up too today!

 

Wish me luck!

[Breezy_Pete]

Good luck.

[Zebedee2001]

Well it worked & I have another 9 inserts in case it happens again! Thanks for all the help!

[J.R.]

Great news and good to know for the future, I would never have thought to look for a repair kit and did not expect if they existed they would be produced and sold in such volumes to get a price like that.

 

But then I hadn't realised that it was a common fitment across so many vehicles and liable to strip, must take a lot of brute force and ignorance to strip a 9mm thread but clearly thousands do just that, or maybe the carriers are made of cheese.

[Titanium_Man]

11 hours ago, J.R. said:

must take a lot of brute force and ignorance to strip a 9mm thread but clearly thousands do just that, or maybe the carriers are made of cheese.

It really doesn’t take a lot to do. Lack of thought, coupled with rushing and being heavy handed makes it really easy to misalign the thread and F it up. Especially if you use tools to start the bolt rather than using your fingers. 

[VWD]

On 25/05/2020 at 21:10, J.R. said:

Great news and good to know for the future, I would never have thought to look for a repair kit and did not expect if they existed they would be produced and sold in such volumes to get a price like that.

 

But then I hadn't realised that it was a common fitment across so many vehicles and liable to strip, must take a lot of brute force and ignorance to strip a 9mm thread but clearly thousands do just that, or maybe the carriers are made of cheese.

JR- Common fault on a lot of cars fitted with similar arrangement, according to the bloke who fitted a helicoil to mine. My car had one of these 35 point inspections before I bought it and also an early MOT. The certificate i was presented with had no advisories, but I checked on line to find an earlier one with an advisory on disc wear at 14k 🤨,and a re issue with no advisories, so I'd suggest  the pads had been changed for a retest. Given the place of the tests, I'd suggest mine had had the pads replaced by rodger ( the bodger). The bloke fitting the helicoil had an inkling )( but no proof) that some compound had ben applied to the origonal bolts.

 But ,TBH ,if you can find a small machine shop like I did and get it done for peanuts ,then it's a job best left to the experts. Possibly the fact that I had the tools to hand with the relevant torque settings helped, as did th fact that SIL knows the firm as he gets a lot of bike work done there.

[mrgf]

I am popping an extra post here as I too, have had a great experience using one of the tool sets to repair brake caliper threads.

Some of you will have seen and read (And possibly fell asleep) My messages on another post as I was asking about replacing the whole steering knuckle on my Fabia as the caliper brake is built in to it.

So once again, as others may not have followed the knuckle post, I managed to find a set of repair tools for just  £14.99 from an eBay seller called  the_diy_shop

 

Hopefully, if anyone is needing to do this, they might also save a few quid. I have seen slightly cheaper versions, with cheaper looking tools but this is a proper kit, with an RRP of close to £60. (Blue Spot tools). I had no instructions as most don't but found online, the instructions from Laser tools, which are near identical.

 

If you can change brake pads and can operate (And have access to) A drill, you can almost certainly do this job yourself. 

 

Big thanks to Wino (Again), Zebedee2001 and other posters, who led me to these kits, via their posts.