I took a half day today at work and tommorow off because the weather is nice. I need to finish front rebuild before Saturday because of weather and work schedule.

The front is almost completely apart except for 2 things.

1) Passenger side A-arm. Front bolt came out no problem. Rear bolt, I got the nut off no problem but the bolt will not come out it just spins in place. There's no room in the back to hammer on it because of the exhaust and I can't get a screw driver or chisel in between the bolt head and A-arm to pry it. Any ideas on how to remove it?

2) Driver's side strut. Using 2 wrenches to remove the mounting nut I stripped the strut shaft so now it just spins. I tried channel lock pliers and vise grips but it still spins when I try to loosen the nut. Will a hack saw cut through it? Any other ideas?

I had soaked all hardware for the last day with penetrating oil so nothing was frozen.

Thanks

 

For the strut... Try an impact. If you dont have one try a driminal and carefully cut the nut off.

For the A arm... Put the front bolt back in. The rear may be in a bind. It sounds like the bolt is rusted to the steel insert and it is spinning in the rubber bushing. Putting the front bolt back in will reduce the tendency to bind. If it will not come out still. Hit the front side of the bolt hard with a hammer. This may lossen it up so that you can unscrew it. Or try to drive a chisel behind the bolt head and between the kmember mount. This will pull the bolt forward.

 

SDIF has good solid advice. i was going to segust wiggling the a-arm (as much as you can with a bolt in it) to try and unbind the bolt.

is the spring still in place? if so you will probably want to support the a-arm with a hydrolic jack to put additional tension on the spring and allow the bolt to unbind. and as always; use caution when removing the springs.

goood luck.

 

Thanks for the replys. The spring is already out so no worries there. The bolt head is flush agains the a-arm so I couldn't get a screwdriver or chisel in there. I'm going to put the front bolt back in like you said. If the does'nt work wiggling it around I'm going to Home Depot and buy a cutting wheel.

 

Can you drill down the center of the bolt? Start small and gradually get larger.

 

I went through the same bolt problem. The bolt is actually siezed to the bushing's metal insert (so cutting the head off may cause more problems). I used a chisel under the bolt head (I should say I beat the bolt head until I could get a chisel under it), then I sprayed a gallon of WD-40, knocked the bolt back in, knocked it back out.... You get the picture. Took me about an hour a bolt. I used anti-seize on the new bolts.

JamesC

 

yep the bolt is siezed in the metal insert alright. This totally sucks! I cut the head of the bolt off. I tried to punch it through with another bolt and a BFH and it isn't budging! I just sprayed with more oil. I can't drill it either. Bad angle no where to get the drill in there. I barely could hammer at that angle. Open to more sugggestions. I can't get the cutting wheel up in the bushing either. AHHHHH!

 

Big c-clamp maybe, with a big enough washer or box end wrench used on
the other side enough to allow the bolt to pop through?

 

Get a c clamp and a non deepwell socket.

Use the c clamp to pull the bolt forward.

Put the open end of the socket over the end you cut occ so it will have some room to come out.

clamp the c clamp to the socket and the end of the bolt by the exaust.

If you could get a wrench in there to take the orginal nut off the clamp should aslo fit.

Or

If you can get an air chisel with a point on the end and hammer hell out of the end you cut off it will usually break the rust.

Or

Try putting some heat to it.

I had the same experience on my two traiing arm bolts about 3 years ago and tried everything.

 

Yeah, that's what I meant, just didn't describe it all that well.....

 

Thanks for the quick response guys. Thats a great idea with the c-clamp. I'll look right now to see if it looks like it'll fit, then I'll go to the store to get one(lost mine during last move). This really sucks being back in the northeast. I've got more rust in the last 2 yrs here than I did the previous 13yrs living in Colorado.

 

You really need to invest in the PB Blaster company.....good stuff.

 

Well I give up till tommorow. I did manage to get the strut off, just chopped the top of with a cutting disk.

The a-arm bolt is going nowhere. The 6" c-clamp was too big, wouldn't fit. The 4" c-clamp was barely big enough. I twisted as hard as I could but that sucker would not budge!

I'll try again tommorow. If nothing works I guess I'll put everything back together and take it to a shop and see if they can get it out.

Thanks for the help.

 

Do you have a small propane torch? Warm it up real good, and
try to pop it out....if nothing else, it will melt the rubber out of the bushing and the whole center should come out, leaving you with
just the shell. You should be able to use a jab-saw to cut the
shell out.

 

Last time I had this issue I used a sawzall and cut the bolt. Went in between the bushing and the frame. Need to go slow and use lots of oil. May need several blades.

RBob.

 

Thank you so much for all your suggestions. This was a real PITA but having help from you guys eased the pain a little bit. I ended up renting a sawzal and that did the trick, it ate alot of blades though. Working outside in 15 degree weather is not fun!lol!

Hopefully the reasembly goes a bit easier. I'm dropping the a-arms off at the shop tommorow morning to get the bushings and ball joints pressed in. I have all moog suspension pieces to put on, moog springs, kyb struts, monroe strut bearing plates, earl's ss lines, and Ed Miller's 13" c4hd kit. Can't wait to drive after it's all done.

Thanks again everyone.

Doug

 

Take a look at the a-arm where the end link passes through. If it's ovaled (a common problem), like I imagine it is, you might consider having it repaired.

JamesC