(Not the hole through the dog bone's bushing, the hole the bolt goes into after it passes through the dog bone). I guess I need to either get a new bracket or put a heli-coil in there. I would prefer the heli-coil. Does anyone have the specs or a link to the right kit?
I'm a freelance Audiovisual Technician, mainly working live on conferences where I set up and operate cameras, speakers, projectors, video switchers, etc. I'm expanding into rentals and possibly production of certain products such as recordings, edited videos, and photography. I came up with a really cool, industry-specific business name (which I will not be telling you here), which I was surprised to discover was not a currently-registered business name or trademark because it seemed so obvious and cool, but there were a couple of older (expired) registrations for the mark, and one active business that sells AV equipment for cars that has a similarly-pronounced but differently-spelled name. I paid like $1,500 for a patent law firm to do a thorough review of whether or not I should apply, and they came back and said it was "Moderately Risky", mainly due to the car AV gear company. They recommended that I hire them to apply for it anyway, register the business name now, and pay them like $3,300 for the service and then pay the government like $700 for filing fees. I don't actually NEED the business name (I could pick something slightly less cool), that's kind of a lot of money on something that may or may not add much value to my small business, and they said the process could take up to a year (while I'm trying to ramp things up ASAP). Should I hire them to do it? Do it myself? Don't do it? I'm kind of inclined to not hire them for this.
(Not the hole through the dog bone's bushing, the hole the bolt goes into after it passes through the dog bone). I guess I need to either get a new bracket or put a heli-coil in there. I would prefer the heli-coil. Does anyone have the specs or a link to the right kit?
A few years ago, I took my 2010 Altima 2.5s sedan in for an alignment and the shop told me the bolts were spinning because the lower link bushings were worn out, but that it was ok because the wheels were only slightly splayed. I got ahold of some new OEM lower links and had them put in along with new Moog cam bolts and washers when I had the rear subframe replaced, and had it aligned. They didn't say the problem persisted. And why would it if they replaced all the hardware? So a few weeks ago, I take it in for an alignment and guess what? They tell me that they couldn't adjust the rear cam bolts because they're spinning. Did they really wear out after like 2 years, or were they never really fixed? What could the problem be?
Tie rod.
Shouldn't the head of that cotter pin be further into the groove to lock it in place? This is where it ended up when I torqued it to spec...
(Yes I know the pin ends could be neater, but that is not what's concerning me here).
I have a 2010 Altima 2.5s. I put it up on jack stands to replace the front control arms and one of the CV axles at the end of May, and in the process of doing that job, I discovered the front subframe was rusted out. Not only that, but both ball joints, one of the hubs and the CV axle were impossibly rust-welded to their adjacent parts. I ended up buying replacement steering knuckles (used) and a new hub because I didn't want to buy a blowtorch (not experienced with that and not sure I have a good place to store it) and I was making no progress with my sledge hammer and penetrating oil (also popped the threads of a borrowed tool from Advance Auto). It took a long time for me to track down and work out the logistics of getting a replacement front subframe without a working car, and I was busy with work and stuff, so I didn't get to work on it as often as I wanted to, and I also decided I would take the opportunity to replace the non-drainable pan on my CVT with a drainable one (I'd been meaning to do this), so I did that too. Some of the fasteners on the external CVT filter housing were hard to access, and I had trouble with some of the sway bar end link fasteners that were either stuck or I couldn't access them with my torque wrench (e.g. the passenger side lower fastener because it's in the wheel well and the washer fluid reservoir is in the way at one end and a bunch of other things are in the way at the other end).
So now, the current status is, I have done the following work;
• Disassembled the wheels and front suspension
• Removed the rusted front subframe and installed a sturdy, much healthier one (also applied a fresh coat of Derusto paint)
• Reinstalled the front suspension and wheels, replacing the steering knuckles, front control arms, one hub, and one CV axle with good parts.
• Removed the old CVT fluid pan, emptied the old, nasty, never-changed (although still functional) CVT fluid, and installed the new OEM pan and gasket.
• Used a kit to repair a broken O2 sensor connector that cracked when I removed the sensor
Obviously I will need to get an alignment, but on top of that, I ran into the following issues;
• Couldn't torque the lower, nut of the passenger-side sway bar end link to spec due to slightly rounded nut and accessibility issues; got it as snug as possible, and after putting everything back together, I found that one of the dust boots was torn on the driver's side end link (I actually bought a new set of end links just in case, but have not installed them)
• CVT pan is dripping from lower end at a rate of about on drip every 100 seconds; couldn't get 100% of old gasket bits off the mounting surface, tried using a razor knife, the razor knife scratched the aluminum, and two bolts apparently stripped the threads, despite my carefully using a torque wrench set to spec
• The cotter pin on one of the tie rod ends (which is a Moog replacement that a shop put in a few years ago) doesn't quite go all the way into the slot of the castle nut (it's a little lower than the slot, just kind of touches the bottom of it)
• There is a set of tubes that goes under the driver's side front subframe rear stop bracket (just under the driver's seat) that I didn't realize was there while reinstalling the subframe and one of the two smaller ones got gouged by a pry bar, causing the exterior coating to get scraped open, but so far the tube inside seems intact; I think they are brake fluid lines and I have not detected fluid leaking out of them, even with the engine on and stepping on the brakes (but I have not driven the car since the repairs). I sprayed Derusto on there as well.
• The power steering control wires may have gotten yanked when removing the old subframe (didn't realize they were connected to it) but seem intact and the power steering still seems to function
• The exhaust system probably has some leaks in it now; it sounds loud and it got yanked around during the job, especially the flex pipe (that already had a leak that was patched with compound) and the area right behind the muffler (that got levered against the support bar under it).
• Something is scraping when I move the left front wheel, which I'm assuming is a brake dust shield, although I thought I had made sure those were out of the way before I put them on; I'm going to go take the wheel off and check on that in a little while. (UPDATE: I just tried to figure it out again; moved the wheel, sounded like dust shield scrape, felt the dust shield during the scrape, seemed like it vibrated, took the wheel off, couldn't find a spot where the dust shield was scraping, so idk maybe I'll ask the shop to figure it out).
So it's still got some issues that need to be addressed before I can consider it safe to drive, but this has been going on for like 2 months now and I need it to be over with so I can drive again and not have to spend any more time on this.
Should I keep working on this, and potentially have to learn new things like how to install threaded inserts? How much of this stuff can I let the shop handle, and are they going to charge me an arm and a leg? Should I just give up after all that work and get a new car?
I have a 2010 Altima 2.5s. I put it up on jack stands to replace the front control arms and one of the CV axles at the end of May, and in the process of doing that job, I discovered the front subframe was rusted out. Not only that, but both ball joints, one of the hubs and the CV axle were impossibly rust-welded to their adjacent parts. I ended up buying replacement steering knuckles (used) and a new hub because I didn't want to buy a blowtorch (not experienced with that and not sure I have a good place to store it) and I was making no progress with my sledge hammer and penetrating oil (also popped the threads of a borrowed tool from Advance Auto). It took a long time for me to track down and work out the logistics of getting a replacement front subframe without a working car, and I was busy with work and stuff, so I didn't get to work on it as often as I wanted to, and I also decided I would take the opportunity to replace the non-drainable pan on my CVT with a drainable one (I'd been meaning to do this), so I did that too. Some of the fasteners on the external CVT filter housing were hard to access, and I had trouble with some of the sway bar end link fasteners that were either stuck or I couldn't access them with my torque wrench (e.g. the passenger side lower fastener because it's in the wheel well and the washer fluid reservoir is in the way at one end and a bunch of other things are in the way at the other end).
So now, the current status is, I have done the following work;
• Disassembled the wheels and front suspension
• Removed the rusted front subframe and installed a sturdy, much healthier one (also applied a fresh coat of Derusto paint)
• Reinstalled the front suspension and wheels, replacing the steering knuckles, front control arms, one hub, and one CV axle with good parts.
• Removed the old CVT fluid pan, emptied the old, nasty, never-changed (although still functional) CVT fluid, and installed the new OEM pan and gasket.
• Used a kit to repair a broken O2 sensor connector that cracked when I removed the sensor
Obviously I will need to get an alignment, but on top of that, I ran into the following issues;
• Couldn't torque the lower, nut of the passenger-side sway bar end link to spec due to slightly rounded nut and accessibility issues; got it as snug as possible, and after putting everything back together, I found that one of the dust boots was torn on the driver's side end link (I actually bought a new set of end links just in case, but have not installed them)
• CVT pan is dripping from lower end at a rate of about one drip every 100 seconds; couldn't get 100% of old gasket bits off the mounting surface, tried using a razor knife, the razor knife scratched the aluminum, and two bolts apparently stripped the threads (despite my carefully using a torque wrench set to spec)
• The cotter pin on one of the tie rod ends (which is a Moog replacement that a shop put in a few years ago) doesn't quite go all the way into the slot of the castle nut (it's a little lower than the slot, just kind of touches the bottom of it)
• There is a set of tubes that goes under the driver's side front subframe rear stop bracket (just under the driver's seat) that I didn't realize was there while reinstalling the subframe and one of the two smaller ones got gouged by a pry bar, causing the exterior coating to get scraped open, but so far the tube inside seems intact; I think they are brake fluid lines and I have not detected fluid leaking out of them, even with the engine on and stepping on the brakes (but I have not driven the car since the repairs). I sprayed Derusto on there as well.
• The power steering control wires may have gotten yanked when removing the old subframe (didn't realize they were connected to it) but seem intact and the power steering still seems to function
• The exhaust system probably has some leaks in it now; it sounds loud and it got yanked around during the job, especially the flex pipe (that already had a leak that was patched with compound) and the area right behind the muffler (that got levered against the support bar under it).
• Something is scraping when I move the left front wheel, which I'm assuming is a brake dust shield, although I thought I had made sure those were out of the way before I put them on; I'm going to go take the wheel off and check on that in a little while. (UPDATE: I just tried to figure it out again; moved the wheel, sounded like dust shield scrape, felt the dust shield during the scrape, seemed like it vibrated, took the wheel off, couldn't find a spot where the dust shield was scraping, so idk maybe I'll ask the shop to figure it out).
So it's still got some issues that need to be addressed before I can consider it safe to drive, but this has been going on for like 2 months now and I need it to be over with so I can drive again and not have to spend any more time on this.
Should I keep working on this, and potentially have to learn new things like how to install threaded inserts? How much of this stuff can I let the shop handle, and are they going to charge me an arm and a leg? Should I just give up after all that work and get a new car?
I drained and refilled the CVT of my 2010 Altima and put on a new pan (with a drain hole) and solid gasket (also replaced the internal strainer and external filter). Now the pan is dripping at a rate of about 1 drop every 100 seconds, out of the rear (lower) end of the pan. The drip looks like it's coming from a bolt at the rear of the lower end of the pan, but it could just be running down there from higher up and then dripping off.
I did have a couple of issues on installation. One of the bolts apparently broke the threads out of the bolt hole, despite my being gentle and trying to properly torque it to spec, I couldn't quite get some of the small pieces of the old gasket off, and when I tried to, the razor knife I was using scored the aluminum. I also broke the threads on another bolt at the front (upper) end after that, but it didn't seem to make it any worse. I do have a tube of liquid CVT pan gasket maker that I had originally been planning to use before people told me the solid one was better, so I could drain the fresh fluid and try sealing the pan with that, but those 2 bolt holes are apparently damaged now.
What should I do, take it in to the shop to fix the bolt holes and and do it right? Retry with the liquid gasket maker? Get rid of the car?
I tried to wrench the pan drain open so I could install a crush washer, but I couldn't get it open, so I figured I would install the pan and then wrench out the plug and install the crush washer before filling it up. I forgot to do that before filling it up. It doesn't appear to be leaking (yet). Should I leave it alone, or does this need to be dealt with?
I replaced the front subframe on my 2010 Altima, and in the process, I stuck a pry bar under the left front crossmember stop brace bracket to try and help squeeze the new front crossmember into place, not realizing these lines went through that area. It looks like I peeled the protective surface off and may have scratched the actual metal a bit, but it didn't seem to leak. Is it ruined? Is it going to explode or leak? I imagine it's hard/expensive/messy to replace.
When you make a template for a custom system, do you cut scalloping/staggering into the hairline of the template, or do you just draw a solid line that approximates the hairline contour and then draw indications on it and/or include a note to the shop that you want a scalloped or staggered hairline?
I've got a control arm stuck in the steering knuckle by the ball joint and I can't hammer it out with my 5lbs hammer. How do I get it out? I haven't tried heat yet. I will need to buy a MAP-Plus cannister and nozzle to do that. I am also expecting to run into some stuck nuts on the exhaust pipe and/or subframe. ChatGPT is telling me that only an air hammer system is the right tool for this, and those electric SDS-Plus/Max rotary hammers only work with chisel tips and bull punches which are not exactly the right thing and could cause damage or be less effective. Do I really need to get a compressor and air hammer for this? It would be great if I could just get a cordless tool for this.
I often end up with a unit that has this cursed, unnatural-looking hair part and I can't seem to fix it. I get stock ultra-thin polyurethane skin units with all v-loops, and cut them to a template I make, and sometimes they turn out great, but a lot of times I'll end up with a unit that's stuck with this stupid part, usually on my left side (this is a picture of a mirror so it's reversed), that seems to slant up towards the back and top of my head, which makes combed hairstyles look unnatural from the side and certain angles. Despite being advertised as "freestyle", these poly units will not actually let you change the part (you can comb over it or redirect the combing angle of the hairs a bit, but it always wants to hold this part and sometimes results in sticking up or creating weird cowlicks and stuff if you try to comb it out into a more natural part); I've had barbers give up and say that couldn't make my hair look normal when they tried to work on it. I can't seem to fix it either, and the more I try to comb it or style it, the sharper it seems to make the part, which draws more attention to it. I always try to get the crown and hairline on the unit to line up with the crown and hairline on the template (and then my scalp), so that SHOULDN'T be it (unless I'm messing up somehow). Anyone else experience this and know how to fix or prevent it?
I was going to replace the CV axle and control arm on the driver's side, but I discovered that the CV axle was impossibly stuck in the hub. I tried soaking it in Liquid Wrench and hitting it with a 5 lbs. hammer repeatedly. No luck. Decided to move on to the control arm. Found the ball joint was similarly stuck. Attempted to unbolt the hub. Nope. I haven't tried blowtorching it yet (never done that before), and I don't have a pneumatic hammer (or electric equivalent). Ended up removing the whole rust-welded mess of knuckle, hub, CV axle, and control arm (actually just the outer portion of the CV axle; the other end broke off and is still in the transmission; haven't attempted to pull it out yet). The knuckle-to-strut bolts and tie rod came off pretty easily. At this point, it might be easier (but more expensive) to just buy a new knuckle and hub assembly. Or a new car, but that seems like a waste, since the engine, CVT, and interior are fine. ChatGPT thinks I might be able to take it to a shop and have them pop it out with a hydraulic press. Any tips here?