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Hey, Steve, did you check the transmission fluid? There a reminder.
Did you get that spun cage nut out?
Yes, I got it out. I cut the bolt off close to the frame, used a cold chisel to shear off the nut cage spot welds, and the whole thing came out.
It's a bad design in my opinion. The cage is only spot welded in the corners. The nut spins when it pushes out the cage between the spot welds. If there was an extra spot weld in the middle of each cage side, there would be much less chance of a spun nut.
I bought a couple of new cradle bolts from the dealer (only need one but want to have a spare) and a couple of M14-2.00 nuts. The nuts are 10.9 grade (the metric equivalent of a "grade 8" nigh-strength SAE bolt) which are hard to find locally. Most metric hardware locally is 8.8 grade, or only goes up to 12mm. There should be room for a 21mm open end wrench to hold the nut while I tighten the bolt. Also I will completely douse the bolt and nut with anti-seize just in case it needs to come apart in the future.
I'm going to put a sign on the dash saying Transmission Fluid!
Almost everything is back together. I hope to finish tonight or tomorrow night.
As you may recall, I had to cut off the driver side rear cradle bolt because the nut spun in its cage. Then I sheared off the nut and its cage. With the cradle off (along with the steering rack and sway bar which are attached to the cradle), its easy to get to the nut cage to shear it off with a cold chisel. Then I bought a 14mm flanged nut and it needs to be held from rotating while tightening the bolt.
With the cradle in place, the access to the driver side cradle bolt nut is very tight. The sway bar bushing bracket is higher than the nut and sits right next to the nut, preventing you from using a regular combination wrench. The steering shaft also limits the length of the wrench that will fit. Finally, there are fuel and brake lines running just above the area of the nut.
I found a solution that worked fabulously. I bought a 21mm offset box end wrench from Amazon (the whole kit of 9 wrenches from 7mm to 23mm was only $27). I cut the length in half with a cutoff wheel on an angle grinder. This is what it looks like:
The wrench fit on the nut without a problem. The sides of the subframe enclosure holding the nut kept the wrench from spinning, so I didn't even have to hold the wrench at all while tightening the bolt. Here is a picture of the wrench on the nut:
It was difficult to get a good picture showing the sway bar bushing bracket, etc. but you can see how well it fits, with just the right amount of offset.
The suspension, axle shafts, and cradle are all in place. The remaining tasks are to put the brakes back on, wheels, and attach the shift cable, a few grounds, and the fuse box.
When I removed the shift cable from the shift linkage on the transmission, the plastic clip on the end of the shift cable broke as it was old and fragile. This is part of the shift cable and is not sold separately. The cable is not cheap, and I would have to snake the new cable back to shifter and take apart the console, etc. I found an aftermarket replacement plastic bushing for the cable. It's not cheap ($30) but I needed it and it was better than replacing the cable. I suppose you could find a cheaper one with a lot of digging, but I needed it ASAP. Here is the link:
Surprisingly good quality for "cheap" wrenches. They are polished and the one I used held up to a huge amount of torque (70lb-ft +180 degrees) without any problems.
I’ll bring those OEM swaybar brackets and bushings , next coffee meet up!
Great idea for the cage nut!
I actually discovered I had a new set of OEM brackets and bushings in my "HHR Parts Stock". I don't remember buying them, but I was happy to have them and installed them on the cradle before I put it back on the car.
Now I just have to repeat to myself.. ADD THE TRANNY FLUID... ADD THE TRANNY FLUID..
I have this nightmare of trying to pull out with a dry transmission!
BTW, Rock Auto has AC Delco Dexron VI fluid for $4.08 per quart. After the 5% discount and adding shipping (for 8 quarts), it comes out to $4.87 per quart, which is cheaper than the Walmart generic Dexron VI ($6.62).
Don’t forget to order it and pour it in the funnel in the fill hole!
Great news about those spare brackets and bushings, I think that will cure the swaybar touching the cradle where you showed me .
Take a picture if you’re under there, checking the transmission fluid level !
I just made you say under where
I just got everything back together and took her for a ride. The transmission seems to work fine.
Tomorrow I need to get a new battery (I swapped oldblue's battery for a bad one in one of the other HHRs while oldblue was down). After that it goes back to my daughter and I can move on to the next car repair.
02-06-2020, 02:40 PM
