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Cage nut bottom side, welded to the body The top view, I think there are grooves the cage fits into
Im going to assume they got rid of that on mine. I was under there the other day cause ive got something getting loose and i can see the whole top of the bolt and threads. There no more cage. Its tight though. My issue is the sway bar brackets. They came loose i just gotta get under there and tighten them i think.
EDIT: I held the bar while my girlfriend shook the car side to side and it move quite a bit accompanied by that noise. I had the whole cradle and everything out like 6 months ago when i did the clutch and i think I didn't tighten it back up. I replaced the bushings with the subframe out. I could do the passenger one without lowing the frame but not the driver side one. Probably will need em again. 😒
I’m waiting for the bolt and nut to arrive , before I crawl under to start getting it apart, I did squirt some penetrating oil in the threads and in the shank of the bolt, until it dripped out the bottom of the bolt hole.
by the photos, fastsuv posted I think there’s enough room to get a vise grip or wrench to hold the nut plate of the cage nut .
Passenger side of Steve’s ‘06 Driver’s side of his HHR , I hope I can get in there without dropping the cradle
Replaced the rear brakes and while investigating the front end, I discovered the drivers side LCA rear bolt wasn’t even torqued to 74 ft/lbs , I attempted to torque the bolt and surprise! The cage nut is spinning, now I did not use my impact gun, I know better from experience, right fastsuv? Steve and I watched as his battery impact gun broke the cage free in Oldblue, last fall . Good thing he had extra bolts and 14 mm nuts .
to bad the border is still closed, this would be so much easier with Steve’s lift.
I ordered new bolts, and RockAuto says they will be here next Monday, so it clunks, I can still drive it.
the PowerStop rear drum brake kit is awesome, you get everything in the kit from drums , shoes , adjusters and all the springs and clips , even a tube of silicone brake lube. That was the easy part of the day!
The border closure is scheduled to end on July 21st, but it looks like Canada is asking for another month extension, and the US is going to agree. Otherwise I would say to bring your HHR over after the border reopens and we can do it on my lift.
To people who don't live near the US/Canada border, the closure probably is not a big deal. However, to people in Western New York and Southern Ontario it's a huge deal. We would constantly cross back and forth from both sides almost like there was no border. People on both sides would cross for work, shopping, pleasure, property they owned on both sides, etc. It's sort of like being told you can't go to the other side of town.
Concerning the cage nut, there isn't really a way to weld a new one in that I can see. As someone mentioned, you could drill a large hole with a hole saw in the floor pan above the nut and weld a new cage nut in, but that's another level of effort. There just isn't enough room from below for any kind of welder that I know of. I just bought a flanged nut (14mm I think) and held it with a box-end wrench. The driver side is real tricky. There isn't enough room for a 14mm box end wrench because of the fuel lines, brake lines, and steering rack. I had to buy a 14mm offset box end wrench and cut in half (lengthwise) due to limited space. Also, make sure the flanged nut is a high-strength metric nut (equivalent of grade 8 SAE). Regular strength metric bolts and nuts are labelled "8.8", while the high-strength bolts and nuts are labelled "10.9". There is actually a super-strength one labelled "12.9" but it's only a little stronger than the 10.9 grade. The 10.9 grade is much stronger than the 8.8 grade. I was lucky that we had a local hardware store that carried a 14mm grade 10.9 flanged nut.
I agree about the border, it’s closed and that was extended yesterday till August 21st.
Thank you, Steve for posting clear photos and the size of the flanged nut 14-2.0 , my Fastenal dealer is closed for this COVID stuff , I might have a nut here in my spare parts , but I’ll wait til I have the new bolt to match it to. Dan, just purchased a new MIG welder, he has cleared out his garage , no lift but we can fabricate if need be to get that cage nut out and the bolt. He, thinks the PO or who ever replaced the LCA’s broke one of the cage welds , and then me attempting to remove the bolt to apply never seize broke off another one or two, he came up with the vise grip idea, we shall see!
I’m fine with just tightening it back up , torque it properly and deal with it when the LCA rear bushings fail, they are only 1 year old and 12,000 miles
Today , heat warning is in effect, but that driver’s side LCA rear bolt has to be changed, the RockAuto order arrived yesterday afternoon, Friday the 17th, awesome considering I placed the order on the Wednesday the 15th I ordered two bolts and one cage nut.
judging by the cage the nut never really fully contacts the body , there are two little arms that go between the nut and the body of the HHR
These two retaining arms , this is the side that goes down against the body This would be the top side , , now I wonder are there Slots or holes in the body for those little triangle like points to locate the cage prior to welding?
Normally caged nuts are spot welded in.
Never saw or heard on a crimp style.
The nut floats in the cage for easier alignment between it and the bolt.
A.K.A. Fudge factor.
Today , heat warning is in effect, but that driver’s side LCA rear bolt has to be changed, the RockAuto order arrived yesterday afternoon, Friday the 17th, awesome considering I placed the order on the Wednesday the 15th I ordered two bolts and one cage nut. judging by the cage the nut never really fully contacts the body , there are two little arms that go between the nut and the body of the HHR
These two retaining arms , this is the side that goes down against the body This would be the top side , , now I wonder are there Slots or holes in the body for those little triangle like points to locate the cage prior to welding?
They have designed some goofy stuff before, but I doubt the intent is for the nut to be torqued down on those two tiny tabs.
If you look closely at the side of the cage you can see where the shape of the bent tab was punched out of the rest of the cage when run thru the die. That surface at the base of the little triangles in the seating surface of the cage and yes you are probably correct in assuming these points locate the cage prior to spot welding.
The tabs were then formed around the nut to hold it temporarily in place.
Following that cutout, you can see that when the nut is torqued down the bent tabs will be short enough to release the nut so it can seat completely
Well, released or not the welds don’t appear to be broken, just the cage is expanded enough for the cage nut to spin, I soaked it with PB Blaster, and went about removing both sides of the sway bar bushings and brackets, this gave some room to get to the ledge went the cage is welded to the body, I saw that there is enough of a slot to place a screwdriver in to wedge the nut to keep it from spinning.
As I was able to unscrew the bolt , I thought, what if I can’t line up the cage nut and the new bolt?
The bolt got sprayed again with PB Blaster and I tightened the bolt with the screw driver firmly wedged in the cage, I managed to torque the bolt to 74 ft/lbs, then turn the bolt another 180 degrees.
That will hold it until the weather cools off , It’s 85 out there now and getting hotter.
If I need to change the LCA’s , then I’ll deal with the bolts at that time, st least I have them in the tool box GM, ready for that .
I did notice that if I removed the rear transmission mount, the steering rack and the sway bar bushings and end links , I could have more room to get at that cage and deal with the nut spinning.
and now ! Nap time!!
07-14-2020, 08:47 PM
