Seems like I’m always finding new ways to qualify as a dummy in something, just ask my ex-wife. Shortly after buying my car and reading many of the posts about the halfshaft bolt issue, I realized that I had not actually confirmed that my car’s bolts had been changed (yep, dummy). So I went spelunking down in the bilges of the engine bay and saw this:
Yikes! Am I really seeing the original torque-up marks across the coupling and bolt heads? Just like when you find a four-leaf clover, I had to stare at it for a moment to make sure of what I was actually seeing, but minus that warm, lucky feeling part. And since I could not confirm the status and there was no paperwork to be found, I guess that drive into the mountains I was planning will have to wait.
Fast forward a bit, well I changed the bolts, but it seems like there are still a lot of low mile or under-used cars popping up out there and new buyers that might have a similar experience. A lot has been written on the subject and this post won’t repeat too much of that. This post won’t apply to most owners since the halfshaft bolt issue is pretty well known and most owner’s cars have already been fixed. Also, you pros won't be impressed here, you do this in your sleep. This is written primarily for guys like me who find themselves with a question and are miles from a reliable shop. So, here goes a pictorial of the halfshaft bolt inspection and swap out as I experienced it. This is a really long post, with a butt load of pics. The BB looked like it was going to blow up, so I’ve dumped it to a PDF, you can see it here;
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pn7jq3mrpe1pbqx/Halfshaft%20Bolts%20for%20Dummies.pdf
Have fun. I'm going for a ride.
Yikes! Am I really seeing the original torque-up marks across the coupling and bolt heads? Just like when you find a four-leaf clover, I had to stare at it for a moment to make sure of what I was actually seeing, but minus that warm, lucky feeling part. And since I could not confirm the status and there was no paperwork to be found, I guess that drive into the mountains I was planning will have to wait.
Fast forward a bit, well I changed the bolts, but it seems like there are still a lot of low mile or under-used cars popping up out there and new buyers that might have a similar experience. A lot has been written on the subject and this post won’t repeat too much of that. This post won’t apply to most owners since the halfshaft bolt issue is pretty well known and most owner’s cars have already been fixed. Also, you pros won't be impressed here, you do this in your sleep. This is written primarily for guys like me who find themselves with a question and are miles from a reliable shop. So, here goes a pictorial of the halfshaft bolt inspection and swap out as I experienced it. This is a really long post, with a butt load of pics. The BB looked like it was going to blow up, so I’ve dumped it to a PDF, you can see it here;
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pn7jq3mrpe1pbqx/Halfshaft%20Bolts%20for%20Dummies.pdf
Have fun. I'm going for a ride.
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