I have some LCA and Panhard bar bolts that are going to be a pain to break loose. I have penetrating oil and an impact wrench, but are there any other tricks I could use to get at these better.

Thanks in advance,

Gary

 

Try applying heat from a torch to break loose frozen bolts.

 

if an impact wrench doesent break it loose i dont think any tricks will work but u can try melting some wax aroung the bolt while ur heating it up.

 

I had to heat the hell out of mine, came right off after that..

 

If any are bent, they're going to snap, so watch out. Definately wear gloves... trust me.

So in case one snaps, make sure you already have a few spares on hand. Get out your wallet, too, because for the panhard rod and the track bar brace, GM wants around $5 for the bolt and $8 for the "special" locking nut.

Also, here's something important: Make sure when you give these bolts their final tighenting (torque them to spec!!), that you've lowered the car off the jackstands on onto the floor. If you tighten the bolts while the car is in the air, you'll wind up inducing a preload in the bushings- and your car will be higher off the ground than it should be.

Important bit #2! Check the torque of all those bolts often!! I lost a track-bar-to-body-brace bolt while I was driving because I never re-torqued anything after my 3.73/posi/disc swap. I'm so thankful that it was the panhard rod (GM calls it a track bar) bolt that fell out, and not one for the rear lower control arms!! That would sucked!

Another tip: Buy a tube of "anti-seize". Put a light coating on the threads of the bolts before you install them. This'll keep 'em from rusting in the future. Just dont glop too much on, a little tiny dab will do it.