Snapped of balljoint bolt in knuckle
 

BMW X5 E53 3.0

I needed to replace my thrust strut bushing this weekend. however have run into a problem. Got the thrust arm an balljoint out while undoing managed to snap off the bolt that hold the ball joint to the knuckle. To make it worst snapped one bolt in each knuckle.

Drilled a hole through the bolt to use an ezy-out but now concern that the bolt must be torqued tight therefore the ezy-out might snap as well.

What are my options:
Give it a go - and hope the bold comes out.
Remove the whole knuckle and drive shaft and take to a machine shop to get the bold out.
Get a second hand knuckle.

Any ideas would be appericated.... what a pain

Davee, I feel your pain. You seem quite knowledgeable in diy stuff. I think the easy-out is the first step you can try.
If it's not too late, I suggest you buy a drill bit that is left hand drive (not sure of the good name) to drill your bolt. It's a drill bit that requires the handrill to turn left to work. Doing so, the vibration of the drilling + heat + left hand side torque is often suffisent to loosen the broken bolt. If not, then you can try with the ez-out. A drilled bolt will have less radial force applied to its treads and should be easier to extract.
You can also try to apply some heat with a MPS gas torch if there is nothing critical in the way.
Working on a bech with a drill press is recommended if it's not too much work to remove the suspension arm.
Hope this helps.

heat them up first until cherry red then twist and turn back and forth slowly and you will get them to come out. use the ez out of course

Thanks for your input. I think i'll remove the knuckle (good to get the experience anyway) to get better access to the bolt shaft then try, heat, left handed bit, ezy out, whatever works.

In terms of heat will a propane torch be hot enough?

Usually on a big metal part like that a propane torch is not enough. They sell MPS cylinders that have the same physical shape and use the same nozzle as a propane torch, and give a lot more heat.

I would say try with the MPS if you can find one or bring the piece to a local garage and ask them to heat it with their acetylene torch, then use the easy out.

Another trick, if there is enough bolt stud out of the knuckle, you can have a nut welded to the bolt and unscrew it while it is still hot.

If that doesn't work, the last option would be to drill and tap new treads.

update - Managed to get the left and right knuckles removed. I dropped them off at a local garage to see if they can get the bolts out. Seem they are having problems as well as they have tried several times welding a nut onto the snapped bolt. What a tough job!

I hope they tack a washer first. Thats a lot easier and then tack the nut on the washer. Get those bolts cherry red. Shouldnt be that hard

Yep, Got both Knuckles back during the week. Thread all good so managed to assemble over the weekend. Need to get the alignment done now.

Have one small problem in that while the brake rotors and discs were off I decided to replace them and put new brake fluid through the system. Now I have spongy brakes after 3 bleed attempts. I used the motive power bleed and hayaku instructions.

When I bleed each wheel I get no air bubbles so unsure where the problem is. Any ideas as a want to get her back on the road.