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On 26 Mar 2003 at 14:00, Vlach, Joe -CKHS wrote: > I tapped the steering knuckle. The shop teacher didn't like the results, a > bit of slop. He doesn't like helicoils either; he said they are relying on > threads to hold them into place (these threads are already jeopardized). He > suggested welding them and drilling and tapping. Any thoughts. If this really ended up sloppier than the original hole then he's probably right. You can actually buy helicoil taps that leave you various amounts of clearance and either your tap leaves too much, or your technique was flawed and the tap wobbled around and took out more metal than it was supposed to. I find that lots of people don't appreciate the really subtle qualities of a helicoil insert. They wedge in place by virtue of the fact that the coil that you start with is large than the hole you wind it into. They hold really well, but you do have to use just a bit of extra care to avoid catching the lead-in when you start the bolt. This is not much more than you should do anyway, to avoid crossthreading the bolt. As for welding, that's a possibility, but it also has disadvantages. The knuckle is forged and if you weld on it you take some chance of changing its physical properties. I really don't know much about the HAZ (heat affected zone) so I tend to just avoid this possibility if at all possible. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ------------------------------------------------------------------- List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org