So, I managed to shear off all 6 bolts on the wishbone arms of our Roomster. Intentionally, as they would not budge.

Can anyone tell me the bolt/nut sizes for the 3 holes on the wishbones?

Also I need two new nuts for the track rod ends.

I am struggling to find the sizes online.

Do I need OEM parts for these or will aftermarket do the job?

Cheers,

Joe.

Should they be M10s, given that the nuts came off with a 15mm socket?

I'd always make the effort to use genuine parts as the thread size/grade for car aircraft etc fasteners is tighter than that for general use.

Edit:- they are listed as M10 but the "bolts" should be captive and part of the swivels, the TREs are listed as being M12.

Edited 23 May23 May by rum4mo
Added in some extra content

Good advice.

One of the issues is that I am struggling to find the genuine parts!

Can't find the part number online.

Edited 23 May23 May by joeninho

I edited my previous posting

TRE nuts N 903 213 02

Lower swivel nuts N 103 320 02

RHS lower swivel 6R0 407 366 B (has captive bolt/studs)

LHS lower swivel 6R0 407 365 B (has captive bolt/studs)

If you are buying new lower swivels, with a car at this age, I'd be buying aftermarket and normally you'd get a kit complete for each side with the swivel, lower nuts and top nut.

Edit:- maybe check the Halfords site for prices for the lower swivels, they source these parts from ECP but the price can be less.

Edited 23 May23 May by rum4mo

Dude, this is massively helpful. Thank you.

Should I be replacing the lower swivels when doing this job?

https://www.lllparts.co.uk/catalogs/skoda/CZ/RO/481/4/407/407011

Were/are the bolts not captive on what you have?

Any chance you were trying to turn the nuts the wrong way?

(Captive bolts point downwards, so tool has to turn clockwise to undo the nuts if viewed from above wishbone, as may be the case on driveway).

Photo of current state of things?

Edited 24 May24 May by Breezy_Pete

This is entirely possible, Pete. Every day is a learning day!

As it stands, I am now ready to do the wheel bearings... Sort of. Just need to try and punch the sheared bolts out.

Can these bolts be bought on their own? Or do they only come with the lower swivel?

Cheers,

Joe.

Think the heads are welded in, so will not be easy at all to completely remove.

I have a new one in the garage I can photograph in a bit.

Recently purchased genuine one (comes minus all the nuts!)

No sign of welds, I must've dreamt those. Not sure how they're retained TBH.

Yours look different, I think? Maybe earlier versions did have the welds.

Go aftermarket for new ones, as suggested above, will come with nuts.

Awesome, Pete. Super helpful.

Looks like replacing the swivels is the only way to go here.

I will report back when I've had a go.

Where is the best place to get torque specs for the car?

Am I best just buying the factory service manual?

Not sure where you can get factory service manual since erWin stopped being helpful to non-business users.

Mk2 Fabia Haynes info will have very large overlap with Roomster.

Probably a good idea, as we just picked up another 2011 Fabia last week!

Easymanuals.co.uk

could be a good source of what you want/need at not much money, they are just copies that have been grabbed from erWin in the past, I've bought one for each of my VW Group cars and they are very handy to have once you learn how to use them.

Edit:- these captive "bolts" will have been pressed into the swivel castings just like wheel hub studs are pressed into the hubs - they will have male splines in the casting contact area to prevent rotation.

Edited 24 May24 May by rum4mo
Added in some extra content

Right then, chaps.

Does this bearing look like it's seated correctly?

It was one hell of a job to get it in! Probably the hardest I've worked on a car mission.

On the vids I watched, they say listen for the click of the circlip engaging. Didn't hear any click. Does that matter?

Hard to tell from the pics, too much rust on the wheel bearing housing to see much clearly.

In some of the pics, it looks like the internal spline is damaged, but that must surely be a trick of the light.

I did one recently on a new, pre-heated bearing housing, and I felt it arrive more than heard it.

Still took a bit of grunt to pull it in, but there was a definite "that's not going any further whatsoever" feel when it arrived.

Not sure if I took any pics, will have a look.

From memory I didn’t hear any “click - that is it”.

Maybe get some confidence from how the calliper looks relative to the disc on re-assembly.

The wheel bearing gods have not been kind...

Did the other bearing tonight.

The two metal plates from the tool are wedged against the hub. Definitely can't remove with the allen key, which is now goosed. On a positive note, the allen bolts appear to be good quality.

Any thoughts?

Try and pry it apart with the little gap between the tool plates? Drill out the allen bolts.

Edited 25 May25 May by joeninho

Does this clarify anything:-

"There are 2 small one piece rear blocks, one smaller than the other, the smaller one with the section machined off to avoid contacting the ABS wheel speed sensor is only to be used when pulling the old bearing out front the front and the bigger diameter rear block is for pulling the new bearing in as it fits against rear face of the hub carrier, ie is bigger than the hole that the hub bearing passes through.

There are 2 split blocks, a larger inner diameter (SILVER) one – which is used for removal as it clears the diameter of the main bearing bore and the snap ring, though if that breaks up on removal it is not an issue – during removal, this split block is fitted behind the hub with the recessed area facing the hub carrier and is forced back against the hub carrier body and the bearing is forced out through it as the rear smaller small block passes through the hole in the hub carrier – and a smaller inner diameter (BLACK) one – which is used to fit new bearing as it fits behind the undercut just behind the flange of the hub with its recess facing the bearing, so that forces the bearing in from that point/area as that smaller split block is pulled in until it almost touched the hub carrier as the bearing gets pulled home due to the rear bigger small block being a bigger diameter than the rear of the hole in the hub carrier."

That was taken from comments that I made while using one of these kits.

Edited 26 May26 May by rum4mo

Which parts of your kit did you use to get the first new bearing assembly fitted?

I used the black ones to pull the old bearings out and the silver ones to put them in.

This is what I saw on one of the videos I watched, although I have real reservations now!

Once again, brute force wins the day.

Snapped the press bolt in two using a heavy duty Allen key.

Both bearings look well seated to me.

Fairly certain that I have used the tool correctly, which is all black parts for removal and all silver parts for installation.

Based on the instructions above, I am left wondering if the colours may vary depending on where you buy the tool.