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Alfa 147 wheel hub stipped threads, Helicoil?

11K views 25 replies 8 participants last post by  sprint_veloce 
#1 ·
Hi guys, bit of a problem here..

Took my front wheels off to paint the calipers yesterday and I was shocked to discover how loose they actually were. I was undoing them with ease with just a normal ratchet, and 2 of the bolts were just turning. After jacking up and removing the wheel I have discovered the threads inside the hub have had it. As have the two bolts. Same story for the other side aswell there is a duff thread on the front left. After painting the front calipers I thought I'd do the rear ones aswell whilst I thought about what to do for the threads on the front. Anyway there is also a thread on the rear right hub that has also had it. So all in all out of the four hubs there is 4 threads that are duff.

Now I know a new hub would be very expensive and after a little reading on the internet I have read about helicoiling, I already knew about this but was a little unsure about it as it's on the wheel hubs.

Anyway has anyone had it done and would you recommend me doing that instead of buying new hubs which I really don't want to do.
 
#2 ·
i personally would not use helicoils in this situation. can you get the helicoils in M12X1.25 ?
 
G
#4 ·
Scrap yard or eBay replace with second hand ones . Sounds like someone has had big wheels and short bolts :tut:
You can get complete hubs with uprights not to expensive.
Check on the price of repair first against replacement .
Don't risk your life or others by cutting corners though. :thumbs:
 
G
#5 ·
There is also rgwm member on here Autolusso and others that can help with decent parts.
A guy I got some stuff off who's reasonable to Italia_auto_parts he's on eBay.
Tell any your member and they are normally very fair . ;)
Good luck let us know what you did .
My concern with helicoils is the fact they don't have anything to but up to as the hub is a straight through tapped hole .
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the replies :)

Righto, I have a few people I know of who may be able to help me out so will get on the phone to them tomorrow. As it's only one thread on each hub (apart from the front right with two) I reckon I will give the helicoil or threaded insert a go. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow anyway!
 
G
#9 ·
I will take the man from Rolls Royce 's word for it . I do suspect it is a mater of doing the job properly though.
Does the amount of missing metal make a difference to the helicoils . What I'm fumbling at is there a point where it just won't have enough to bite into and how do you check.
I would trust your judgement but how do you know if someone else doesn't know.
 
G
#11 ·
Yeah the problem I think is that you need to re tap the hole to fit the helicoil and I was just concerned about size and your bolts.
You did check its not the bolt threads I suppose?
Any way had a wheel come off in the middle of town once at low speed and would not want that at speed or round a corner . I'm probably being over cautious . I have used helicoils but not for anything that serious. ;)
 
#13 ·
I'd have no worries using Helicoils - in most applications they are stronger than the original thread. May not be the cheapest option, but certainly the most convenient, as it can be done without dismantling.

Plenty of people offering a mobile Helicoiling service - I've never used him myself, but Kevin Moss in Offerton, Stockport, has a good reputation (Firefox is reporting his website as an attack page at the moment!).
 
#15 ·
I bought a helicoil kit for my 156 hub as the dumb idiot who owned it last used an impact gun and chewed the thread up on the hub.

Slowly drilled it out with a normal hand drill, tapped the thread with a bit of grease on the tap, put the helicoil in and bolted the wheel back up.

The kit I got was from ebay, and it worked perfectly.
 
#19 ·
The kit looks fine, but as said, its rather expensive.

I can't remember the depth of the hub, but you may be better off buying a kit from ebay, which has the right depth helicoils that you need, the kit from machine mart only comes with 1/2inch deep, and 3/4inch.
 
#20 ·
Update: had a friend off my dads come over today who is a mobile engineer. Anyway after running a tap through all the threads both rear hubs now appear to be ok. The front left seems ok now too. Front right will need a helicoil at some point in near future. Should be ok for now. Got some new bolts today as well. Guy who came round explained how garages with their impact guns chew the threads up and give them real stick. Especially these garages with young lads working for them. (Not that I'm an oldie ;) ) also told me not to use a long extension bar and using the spare wheel spanner is sufficient. At the end of the day, why would they include the spare wheel at that size if it wouldn't do them up tigh enough. Lesson of the day don't over tighten and impact guns can be bad news!
 
#24 ·
Still haven't properly sorted this, I still have one bolt that isn't tightening up right. It feels like another half turn and it will completely strip the thread. I've looked for helicoil kits on eBay but the longest coil they have is 16mm. For my wheel bolt thread I need more like 22 mm I think it was. Does anybody else know where I can get one from with 22mm coils ?
 
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