Removing passenger side front wishbone

[rickyquicky]

Does anyone know how to remove the wishbone bolt thats closest to the front of the car? Its a single bolt that goes straight through the rubber bush.

On the drivers side it slides straight out...On the passenger side the gearbox is in the way! You can loosen the bolt but cant slide it out.

Anyone of you guys done this? If so, how?

 

[PH1L]

unbolt it at the bottom(3 nuts) and free the driveshaft combined with turning the wheels you should get enough room to get it out, prob aint an option for you if you waint on a ramp

 

[rickyquicky]

Cheers, but im talking about the mount that only has a single long bolt straight through the middle of it. The mount closest to the front of the car.

There is NO movement whatsoever there, it only allows the wishbone itself to pivot up and down.

 

[PH1L]

ahh right i see now theres no movement untill you take out the 3 bolts that are holding it to the subframe

 

[rickyquicky]

Yeah if you take out the 3 bolts at the wheel end (or just undo the balljoint nut and drop it out the hub) and then the 3 big bolts at the back bush you can still only move the wishbone up and down, the front mount itself has no movement in it to give me enough room to slide the bolt the whole way out.

I tried jacking the gearbox up as i only need about 1cm clearance but I couldnt get that much, rather than dropping most of the subframe I was just wondering if there was like a little trick to it or something.

On other cars with clearance issues you can just cut the bolt out and put a new one in through the other way, but on the A3 the bolt I need to remove doesnt have a nut, the thread is cut into the mount!

Oh well, think i'll carry on tomorrow now!

 

[PH1L]

yeah its a bitch what are you trying to achive?

 

[rickyquicky]

Ive got a pair of cv joints, roll bar links, wishbone bushes for the car and am in the process of fitting it all up.

Dont need it all but I get 50% off a big motor factors near me

Im removing both wishbones to get the bushes on easily, but also want to compare the 2 side-by-side as I hit a kerb a few months ago and want to make sure that they are both good to go back on!

 

[Blacky165]

Does anyone know how to remove the wishbone bolt thats closest to the front of the car? Its a single bolt that goes straight through the rubber bush.

On the drivers side it slides straight out...On the passenger side the gearbox is in the way! You can loosen the bolt but cant slide it out.

Anyone of you guys done this? If so, how?

Okay, I had exactly the same problem - A3 8p DSG gearbox preventing passenger wishbone removal. Dropping the subframe wasn't an option as i encountered a seized bolt. However it's far easier to remove the battery box and airbox to gain access to the top gearbox mount. Remove the 4 bolts and then you can jack up the gearbox as much as you like. This gives plenty of access to slide out the front bolt from the wishbone.