Recommended tool for a stripped hex head
 

Thanks in advance for any advice and recommendations. The first hex head bolt on the front ball joints (tension strut at carrier) I went to loosen when putting the new tension struts on immediately rounded out. Some of it may be my hex socket, but the hex head too looks goobered up now. Fortunately I didn’t really need them and was just doing them because I had a new set on hand, I was in there, and the rest of my front suspension had aged prematurely and was knocking at low speed, so I was throwing parts at it.

Someday they will need to come out though. Any tools work better than others for getting these fasters out? It’s beyond me why BMW didnt use standard bolts. Even the otherwise crappy torx head bolts they love would be better than hex heads.

Let me confirm.... The front tension strut is attached to the ball joint in the carrier with a 22mm nut...The ball joint stud has a hex recess so that you can hold it steady while you tighten the tension strut 22mm nut onto it?

You should be able to remove the 22mm nut with an impact gun without holding the hex head. if you get the nut and tension strut off, you should replace the ball joint with the hex recess

If you can't remove the 22mm holding the tension strut (which is not what you are describing), you can simply cut at verticle slit in with a dremel or grinder to remove it

Hmmm strange, mine had the torx bolts.... are you sure yours aren't also, and maybe they're just dirty and look like hex? lol

https://www.fcpeuro.com/public/asset...16.?1496445157

Thanks gents. The tension strut nut came off with an impact, but yes, the first of two bolts holding the ball joint on rounded out quickly. Cutting a slot in it…genius. Then it will take a slotted head (screw driver type) tool.

I can’t recall what brand I used when I replaced them years ago, but the ones in my car are hex heads. I did notice the replacement ball joints I was going to put in are torx head.

I see what you are talking about...

Other options include:

-drilling the sides of the head with an angled "divot" so that you can put a punch on it and hammer the head into turning the way you want to loosen it

- maybe square off the head a little with a dremel, heat it up and hammer on a six-sided socket, e-torx socket or an extractor socket and turn it off that way.

You would sure rather not snap the head off...that woudl be a bear to drill out.

I had a very similar problem changing my ball joints.

Dremel into slot is the goto but i also have a set of bolt extracting sockets and a very special bostich socket set that are splines. I can usually find an under sized socket by swapping to S.A.E. vs. metric and pound it on. Those bolts are not very big I may have just used a chisel to turn them out.

I had more trouble pounding the ball joint out once the bolts were removed then getting the stripped bolts out.

+1 on splined sockets for stripped heads.. wasn't aware of them...probably perfect for this application.

I do have a "metrinch" sockets that work well on rounded 6-pont hex heads - SAE or metric

I had this with the f30. It uses a torx t40 counter hold. The thing was so seized it snapped my snap-on t40 socket. Went to Lowe's picked up two Craftsman t40s and it snapped both of them too. Not enough room to get the impact in. I tried some u-joint extension stuff couldn't get it.

Since I was replacing the arm anyway, I ended up just using the multi oscillating tool with the metal cut tool and plunge cut the stud below the nut. Easy enough. That oscillating tool comes in handy rather often.

Ball joints of the worst part of the car to work on. I had quite a fight with the one here on the e53 and had to use the torch. I've not found a good BMW ball joint popping tool. The off-the-shelf ones are too small. I've broken two of them.

I have a few from parts stores/HF. I bought this set a few months ago and it's been life changing. Worth every penny:

https://www.amazon.com/DPTOOL-Separa...2-63e904010ad0

BMW seems to have changed from the E-Torx to the internal Torx head style mid way through production.

I rounded and eventually snapped the head off the E-Torx on one of them; no amount of heat/penetrating oil/impact with an extractor socket would budge it. I ended up removing the knuckle and drilling/backing it out with a left hand drill bit. Managed to save the threads thankfully. New ones went in with nickel antisieze.

Exactly what I did (same timing, too) and completely agree.

On my 2001 the originals were external Torx E12. I replaced the ball joints with Lefoerders which came with Torx T45.

From my notes, the trick I needed was to remove those E12 screws first, and then the standard ball joint separator that I use on all my cars worked fine.

Thanks for the thoughts and advice all. That tool does look like the easy(ier) button for getting those ball joints out. And it’s not BMW specific, which is nice. My general rule is that I won’t buy any more BMW only tools, but rather get my Indy to do whatever the job is. However, I will likely break that rule for the CV boot job I am faced with. The axle seating tool is only $80 ish.

I’ll pick this back up when I end up pulling the ball joints someday. They are only 2 years old so hopefully they will last for a few more years. Who knows tho, I burned through the sway bar links and tension struts I put in 2 years ago way too quickly.

That stupid design of lower ball joint held in with two small bolts is ridiculous. A while back I tried to replace one of mine - one bolt snapped and the other rounded off. I ended up drilling right through the hub carrier and used bolts with a nut on the other end. That reminds me, I think one is due for replacement as it’s knocking a bit at low speeds..

Slow speed knock? I’d throw sway bar end links at it first. Much easier and usually the culprit with a slow speed knock. They never seem bad when you pry around the front suspension though. In my experience they are usually the cause. For some bizarre reason BMW made them side specific too. Although they will go on reversed…or so I hear ;-)

On a slow speed knock, be sure to also check control arm bushings, the control arm itself and check for rust on the steel pad portion of the front subframe.

I recently discovered that the steel pad on the subframe that supports my front sway bar had rusted through! Time for a new front subframe....

My sway bar had also rusted quite a bit where it enters the bushing and the combination of rust and constant rubbing on the rubber bushing caused my sway bar to shrink in diameter so that it would not fit snuggly in a new bushing. I bought a rust-free, used sway bar and installed it with new bushings. Much better.

That's what I'd have done. If the "knock" more of a "tap" then check the sway bar links.