[Dr. G]

CLIFFS: If you break a stud/bolt on your strut mount (guide support) and don't know what bolt to use as a temporary solution go find a M8 x 1.25 - 25mm grade 10.9 or 12.9 bolt.

I couldn't find this info when searching so I thought I would make a post about it since it would have been nice to have when I was looking. Through trial and error this is how I ended up getting it done.

PROBLEM:
- Broken Stud from over-torquing the 13mm nut on the upper strut mount aka guide support

SOLUTION:
1) First you need to get the leftovers of the broken stud out
A) You can try to punch it out, but it may be a bit difficult

B) The easiest way for me, was to do what is shown in the attached pic
- Put the broken part of the stud back into place
- Put a socket underneath on the other side over top of the studs head
- I then placed a clamp over top of all this and began to slowly tighten it down. Once you apply enough pressure on this, the stud will pop up from the guide support and land into the socket that you placed under the stud head.


2) REPLACE THE BROKEN STUD

A) You can either press in a new KNURLED STUD if you can find the right one
OR
B) You can use a M8 x 1.25 Bolt in a 25mm length. Grade 10.9 or 12.9 is what should be used, but if you can't find a grade 8.8 might work temporarily. You can reuse the OEM nut or just get new a washer and nut with the bolt.

--> You will have to thread in the bolt from the bottom of the guide support slowly, once it is all the way through it's time to put the nut on. Now you will have to use a socket on the head of the bolt to prevent it from spinning and then use another socket on top to tighten down the nut, having a helper may make this easier.

This time remember to use a torque wrench I did this by myself, but having a helper would make it a lot easier, if you know how to weld you can tack weld to prevent spinning as well



* It is up to you as to whether or not this is a permanent fix for you or if it is a temporary patch up until you replace the whole unit.

**This write was intended for educational purposes only (reading only) and if you cause any damage to your parts or to the vehicle that is solely your responsibility. Chosing to drive the vehicle with this setup is your decision.

[chris@strutmonkey]

I just broke my upper strut bolt as well - I did not even over-torque it. To solve the problem, I simply drilled a small shallow hole in the remaining bolt stub, put a nail set (one of those tapered tools used to pound nail heads down so they are flush) in the hole, and hit it with a hammer a few times. The rest of the strut bolt fell out easily. I just replaced it with a bolt that fit. Easy fix - did not have to remove the strut. just had to lift the car and take tire off.

[mxmx701]

Originally Posted by craesq

I just broke my upper strut bolt as well - I did not even over-torque it. To solve the problem, I simply drilled a small shallow hole in the remaining bolt stub, put a nail set (one of those tapered tools used to pound nail heads down so they are flush) in the hole, and hit it with a hammer a few times. The rest of the strut bolt fell out easily. I just replaced it with a bolt that fit. Easy fix - did not have to remove the strut. just had to lift the car and take tire off.

same issue here, what I did was removed one bolt from my old one which was the factory one (more strongers)( the bolt was 10.8 ) the one I broke from my new quick strut was 9.8, any ways I toke one bolt from my old one and I have to disable the quick strut to be able to replace the bolt, with spring puller and air tools it toke me no more than 30 minutes to have this job done for free. the old bolt fixed perfect on the new strut.

Btw this was in a dodge caravan 2009 where you can not just remove the old bolt without disabling the strut mount

[mistabam92]

Big +1 for this thread and the answers in here so far - I know its a few years old but still super helpful! I just did exactly the same thing replacing some rusty front strut top mount nuts; overtightened one of the nuts (and yes I used a torque wrench, but had it set at the wrong value because I'm an idiot) and the stud snapped off, thought I was going to have to replace the whole top mount at first but having seen the answers in here I went and bought a little punch set (cost like £7 for 8 nice punch tools from Toolstation), gave the remaining stud a few decent smacks with the hammer and punch and it popped right out leaving a nice clean hole.

Then I just jacked up the front wheel (passenger side for me) and whipped the wheel off so I could get to the top mount from underneath, it's a pretty awkward angle to get the bolt through there but i's very doable and didn't take me long. So when I got the new 20mm M8 bolt (which I also got from Toolstation) through the hole I just threaded the new nut on top and tightened it down with a torque wrench on top (set correctly this time....) and a spanner underneath to hold the bolt from spinning - actually very easy in the end and I reckon i got it all done in 20 minutes! Thank you once again e90post community!

(Also just as an aside, some people recommend a 25mm bolt for this but actually I think the 20mm bolt is even better as I swear it looks almost identical to the original stud length and the bolt being slightly shorter makes it easier to get through that awkward little hole in the top mount!)