Yesterday I was able to successfully remove a seized pinch bolt on a 2016 A4 that has been driven for the last 9 years in Canadian harsh road conditions (salt and slush in winter). The entire process took some time to complete but I was able to do it without damaging the upper control arms ball joint boots as well as the steering knuckle.
The removal of the pinch bolts of both sides was needed in order to change the upper control arms bushings,
The driver side pinch bolt was easy to remove because it was replaced by Audi about 4 years ago, to repair a broken coil spring, and from the notes on the work order, it appears that the mechanic broke the pinch bolt head off and pulled it out from the threaded side. But he ended up replacing the steering knuckle assembly because it was cracked...and it's not mentionned if the crack was caused when the bolt was pulled out...
So I prepared myself as best as I could for the removal of the passenger side pinch bolt, as I knew it was seized since it had never been removed before, so I got myself some tools that I would need to get the work done: a small air hammer and a pinch bolt removal tool
https://wilmarllc.com/m550db/m550db-...er-w-4-chisels
https://www.lasertools.co.uk/article...-removal-drift
The removal of the pinch bolt took about 2 hours in total as I was careful to avoid any collateral damages.
Removing the pinch bolt nut was a breeze, but as I tried to push out the pinch bolt with the air hammer removal tool, without any surprise, it would initially not budge at all and was stiff as hell. I was not able to turn the bolt inside the knuckle either....
But it eventually started to move after repeating the following sequence multiple times for about 90 minutes or more:
- drenching the pinch bolt surroundings with lots of PB Blaster penetrating oil
- air hammering, for 1-2 minutes periods, using the pinch bolt removal tool.
- applying moderate heat to the knuckle, just under the pinch bolt, while protecting the ball joint rubber boots from the flame with a piece of metal sheet: no crazy heating nor red metal, just enough heat to see the penetrating oil smoking a bit.
- more air hammering, penetrating oil and heat....
I repeated all of the above several times, while taking care not to overheat the upper control arms ball joints, until I saw the the bolt started to move by maybe 1 mm, and at that point I knew that I would succeed
Another 15-20 minutes of more heat, air hammering and penetrating oil, then it finally worked to push the pinch bolt completely out... Hurray !!!
Bottom line is that you need a lot of patience, persistence and the proper tools to get these seized pinch bolts out.
Now I can replace the upper control arms bushings only, as I don't have to replace the complete arms (all 4 ball joints are still solid).
Hope it helps those who want to tackle this type of work.
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