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I have had a problem with the thread on the captive nut and I read on the front page withthe piccies of their recent Greenlaning trip that Gary has suffered it too now. Fortunately I was in the carpark at Slindon and Gary only met with a bank.
The issue is that the front panhard rod bolt on the axle end goes into a captive nut which is captive inside the pressed metal that is the spring mount.
This nut must have been welded onto the inside of the spring mount before the spring mount was welded to the axle in the factory and there is no access to it now.
If the thread on that captive nut get's stripped for whatever reason, you are left in a pickle.
The previous owner of my Jimny lifted it and fitted the KAP 3" lift kit including adjustable panhard rods. They must have stripped the thread in this captive nut and decided in their infinate wisdom to hold the bolt from unscrewing with the tiniest blob of weld. I had not had cause to undo this bolt and therefore had no noticed it.
The weld broke and the bolt fell out and I had no steering - scary stuff in the car park at Slindon - would be even more so on the road.
As a fix, a friend turned down a larger bolt - I think he turned down a 14mm thread to 12mm leaving thread near the head of the bolt.
I got the original captive nut re-tapped by another friend who is a fabricator and he welded a nut to suit the new bolt on the outside of the panhard rod braket on the axle.
This meant that it now threaded onto the captive nut and the welded on nut on the outside of the bracket on the axle.
I now have a good second hand axle so no longer have this fix in place but it was a good fix.
The only thing to bear in mind was that the thread tapped onto the end of the new bolt to match the captive nut (I think 1.25 pitch metric fine 12mm from memory) was different to the thread on the new bolt that threaded intot he new nut welded onto the outside of the bracket.
This meant that the threads would run in differently but they went in smooth enough and it tightened nicely so I was happy. The head of the bolt might need turning down to miss the panard rod on full droop.
This was alot of faffing and I was lucky to have a band of friends who have the skills and equipment to do it all for me.
It was alot cheaper and less effort than changing the axle - which I later did anyway as I had either bent it or bent the kingpins and the new (second hand) axle complete was only £75!
Kirkynut
The underdog often starts the fight, and occasionally the upper dog deserves to win - Edgar Watson Howe.
when i changed my panhard bushes i found that the same bolt on mine had a problem too the captive bolt welds had broke so i had to cut the bolt out & cut the bracket off to get panhard rod off then i welded bracket back up & managed to get a new bolt in with a nut on as there is a slight gap to get the nut in & hold it with a magnet to get it started & then get a spanner on it
it was very fiddley but i managed & ive got to get it back off again soon so i can make a adjustable rod
You did better than me then, I couldn't get a nut of the right size in the gap behind the nut as there wasn't room between the old nut and the spring mount.
It's a silly design but we've got around it!
Kirkynut
The underdog often starts the fight, and occasionally the upper dog deserves to win - Edgar Watson Howe.
maybe i just managed to get the nut in cus the captive nut had broke off on mine so gave a little more room but i was not easy to get in still took me a while to get the nut on right
NUTS
Removing the axle to day and guess what that bas...d captive nut. so had a rummage on here and looks like cut the spring holder and weld the nut back into place and weld the bracket back onto the spring holder.
