Rick Patton's jig forTrailing Arms

[SCguy]

I'm going to be using Rick Patton's jig to repair strenghten my trailing arms. My current trailing arms have had some repair done with helicoils. My question is can I drill and repair even these previous repaired holes with the same size Keenserts the Rick suggest with his kit?

I ask because I'd rather repair the trailing arms that are already on the car than have to install a second set of trailing arms which I've picked up off ebay.

Again, I guess my question really comes down to are the holes where helicoils have been installed previouly too big and if not... how do you remove helicoils?

 

[TR3driver]

My first question is "Why"? The Helicoils should be plenty strong if installed properly. They are also hard enough that I don't believe you can simply drill them out. The only luck I've had removing them has been to pry up a corner, grab it with needle-nose pliers and twist the pliers CCW to pull the insert out of it's groove (basically unthread them). Of course, if they were installed with Loctite (as I always do), you'll first need to heat the entire area hot enough to break the Loctite bond.

I don't know the answer to the size question offhand, but it should be easy to determine. Start with the Helicoil's tap drill size, then add a full thread depth to that and compare it to the Keensert's tap drill size. My _guess_ is that Rick suggests the 'light' Keenserts (not enough meat in the arm for the 'heavy' ones), and that they are small enough that the Helicoil tap will interfere.

 

[SCguy]

To answer the Why? question... Its more a question of uniformity and <span style="font-style: italic">knowing</span> that they all were done correctly. Currently things are a bit "mix and matched" with fine thread and course thread helicoils or no helicoils.

 

[TR6BILL]

I may be mistaken, but I think that Keen Serts require a larger hole than Helicoils. Yes, Helicoils can be removed, but as stated, if they were "glued" in, you might consider heating first. Or, just reuse the same Helicoils and do all the others in same. They are pretty tough customers and really don't fail.
But, my experience is to only use Helicoil brand. Recoil and others are not as tough. Had bad experience with them and went back with Helicoil brand.

 

[BobbyD]

Rick's TA Repair Kit will support both Keen-serts and Heli-coils but you need to specify which kit you want when ordering from him. If the existing Heli-coils are doing their job of holding the stud firmly in place, why not go with his Kit that supports Heli-coils and only replace the studs that haven't already been done? According to his order page the Keen-serts require an X drill bit (.3970) while the Heli-coils he recommends use a 21/64" drill bit (.3281)so there is a hole size difference.