broken suspension bolt

[TOW'D]

Howdy gang,
 The right rear "A" frame bolt is missing on the front suspension  and it feels like the bolt is broken just at the welded in nut.
Mr. Bentley's fine manual tells to use a 13/32drill and then tap it to 12mm x 1.5.
Has anybody done this repair and can offer a suggestion how to get the broken bolt drilled out .
Starting to drill with the 13/32" seems wrong so I should start smaller and work up to the 13/32" bit any suggestions how to keep everything centred.

thanks
hank


glad we are back on the air

[the caveman]

If you lift the carpet inside you should be able to find a cap which covers the nut on the inside. Surround it with some wet rags, torch it until red hot, soak with cold water till it's cool to touch, and it should come out easy with vise grips.

[TOW'D]

Thanks I'll give it a try
hank

[TOW'D]

Getting the passenger seat out and floor covering up and all the sound deading material out of the way I found a few metal caps.
 I could not get my head in to look so I stuck my camera in and found out what I think is the bolt
it looks like there is a plastic cap on it.
and really no way that I can see to get to it.
So it looks like drilling out the broken bolt from underneath is next.
I just noticed that the metal sleeve in the rubber mount is not round and I'm going to replace them
BTW this is a '85 Golf
thanks
hank

[Rabbit on Roids]

i dunno why, but this is a pretty common problem on MK2's ive owned 3 or 4 mk2s now, and i know i had to fix at least 3 of them. was it the passenger side bolt?

[TOW'D]

yes it is the passenger side
I'm still waiting for the bushings
How hard was it to fix ?
I got the 13/32 drill bit and 12mm 1.5 tap I'll use the bushing as a guide to drill in the centre of the broken bolt-I hope
hank

[TOW'D]

Well it wasn't all that hard replacing the broken bolt.
I did end up drilling out the broken bolt with the 13/32" bit in our air drill.
I found a metal sleeve that fit over the drill bit to take up some of the slop in the new rubber bushing/sleeve to keep the hole in the centre.
Tapping with the 12mm 1.5 tap was a little fun as the tap is just long enough to get a 5/16" 12 point box end wrench on the square drive end.
Today it will be new front brake hoses and rebuilt caliphers and pads
cheers
hank