[JohnMasters]

Good morning NPORA,

I have been enjoying my Pathfinder for a month or two now and went ahead and installed four new ProComp es3000s.

The problem... The lower bolt on the passenger side will not thread back in. It just turns but the first thread wont catch. I thought that maybe the first thread of the bolt or nut might need cleaning up with a tap and dye, which I did, but it still wont thread in.

So, I am currently driving with three new shocks and one NO shock.

Have any of you guys/girls had this problem and what was the easy fix?

If all else fails I can have a new bracket welded on but I'd like to avoid that if possible.

This post has been edited by JohnMasters: 05 November 2009 - 08:52 AM

[Precise1]

Check the bolt for damage, ding or crap in the lead threads, repair or replace as necessary. Thread it in by hand with out going throuugh the shock eye just to verify the it will if proper aligned and without any sideload. I'm assuming it will. Now, put it through the shock eye, align it as well as possible and hand thread it in while slightly moving the shock eye about until it catches.

B

[JohnMasters]

B, since I was having trouble getting it on, I did remove the shock and it will simply turn but the thread wont catch even without the shock eye. The bolt itself looks OK to me but I will pull the bolt from the other side tonight in order to compare and see if it will work on the offending side. Of course, if that works, I dont guess I will still be sure whether its the bolt or bracket nut.

This post has been edited by JohnMasters: 05 November 2009 - 10:27 AM

[Precise1]

Yep, try the bolt from the other side, that is another good trick. If it threads in, then you know the offending bolt is bad. If it will not, then it is the captive nut. If this is the case and you have the tap, try to chase the threads in the nut, but be careful, with a cut tap in a buggered lead, it can be easy to cross thread. Try to use a tapered hand tap or whatever you have with plenty of lead. Also, check to see if the offending bolt is bent. Simply putting it through the shock eye could cause a misalignment at the thread lead.

I'm a machinist and have cut so many threads, it is rediculous so I'm all to used to these kind of issues. Also, for cleaning up OD threads, I much prefer a thread file over a cut die, by the time a die is required, the fastener is probably trashed anyway. Just my opinions...

B

[adamzan]

What I did, since the bolt snapped off anyways, was grind off the welded nut and use a nut/bolt/washer combo. Been working for over a year now.

[nunya]

FWIW, when I changed front shocks I somehow slightly bent the tab on one side and couldn't figure out for my life why the bolt wouldn't start. After realizing what I did, a slight tap with a hammer on the tab with the captive nut and I was alligned and threaded.

[JohnMasters]

Thanks for the replies, I did not get the chance to try the bolt from the other side of the vehicle but I did try the bolt from the backside of the captive nut but because of the length of the bolt and angle of the bracket I couldnt get it in. I did also think that the bracket may have bent so I tapped the non captive bolt side in a bit.

Now, if you guys are able to thread the bolt in from the backside with no problem then maybe I actually bent the captive nut side to the right a bit during install so that may need a tap to the left.

I'll get on it this evening!

[nige]

i ended up doing something similar to adam, I drilled out the old captive nut and used a longer bolt and a new nut and couple washers to hold it all together. It's been working for 5 years now.

[JesseLivingston]

nige, on 06 November 2009 - 07:22 AM, said:

i ended up doing something similar to adam, I drilled out the old captive nut and used a longer bolt and a new nut and couple washers to hold it all together. It's been working for 5 years now.

That's the way to do it!

[JohnMasters]

This is what I would call a SUCCESSFUL thread...

It turns out, after taking everyones advice into consideration, that NUNYAs was my solution.

The bracket with the captive nut had gotten bent to the right so I took a long screwdriver and a hammer and tapped it a few times to the left and VOILA!

Time for a test drive.

Thanks again NPORA!

[nunya]

as long as you got it togher.

[Precise1]

Cool, glad it was that easy!!

Nunya the Bent saves the day!!

B