I'm in the process of pulling my rearend for a number of reasons... Easier access to the part of the body I need to repair, replacement of fuel lines and brake lines, dropping fuel tank for new pump and check for fuel line damage, etc. I have 3 fasteners left to pull out, the ones for the upper shock mounts and one of the LCA's, the passenger's side. The springs are already out (went out first), the torque arm and track bar are hanging loose, and the sway bar end links have either broken (pass side) or come off and the bar is only attached to the bushings on the rearend.

I'm stuck on that blasted LCA. Thing is, I'm also going to be redoing the suspension as ALL of my bushings are shot (sway bar links definitely need to be replaced even if the LCA bushings don't quite need it yet) and my rear springs are sagging (ride height has been measured when empty to be 1/2" too low or more). With the shot bushings, I have the LCA problem. The bushing on the body mount is stuck. The nut is off of the bolt, but the bolt is frozen in the metal sleeve inside the rubber bushing. Which means that when I go to either hammer it out or use my impact on it, nothing happens other than the whole bolt and sleeve spin together, and I can't exactly get the LCA out.

Question is, should I get a blade for my saw and cut the sleeve and bolt, or is there another alternative? The other end, attached to the rearend, is just as bad, but I haven't exactly tried to get it loose yet. Either way, the thing HAS to come off! Oh, and is it a good idea to use anti-seize compound on the bolts when putting these things back together?

 

Sounds like the bolt may have rusted/seized to the LCA sleeve.

You might hafta use a sawzall blade to get between the LCA mount & the LCA, to cut the sleeve & bolt to get the LCA off. But that would be really tricky to keep the blade from stabbing the body & prevent you from controlling the sawzall good. Try soaking it in anti-sieve/WD40 overnight.....something to break it loose.

 

Hello
Like mentioned above! It is seized to the mounting bracket and I would suggest using something like a PB Blaster and a pry bar. If you have any other questions feel free to ask and I will be more than glad to help.
Thanks
Brad

 

I'm having this same problem...

I can get the forward LCA bolts out, no problem.

But the rear bolts on the axle are seized.. I can get an impact gun on the nut, it comes off easily. But the bolts will not budge, or even turn.

I can't get an impact gun on the head of the bolt either, to try to back it out, because I have drum brakes and there just isn't any way to get the socket on it (even with swivel sockets)

I tried PB Blaster, and using a 24" breaker bar to get the bolt loose.. I'm starting to lift the car off the jackstand, and the bolt still won't budge. I hit the bolt on the other end with a 4lb sledgehammer to try to back it out, still won't budge

Is there anything I can do to get the bolt out, short of pulling the axles so I can get the brakes out of the way and getting an impact gun on it? I'm getting very frustrated

 

Patience, beer, more patience and beer, cursing. Sit and sulk, more cursing and beer--more, oh you get the idea. I experienced a similar situation with both a-arms. I used plenty of WD-40, a four-pound sledge and chisel positioned under the bolt head. Drive it out, bang it back in. Little by little, I won. I suppose I worked an hour or more per bolt. I used anti-seize when I reinstalled.

JamesC

 

I love my Kroil. Best penetrant I have used.

penetrant and heat will definately help.

Also do you have a pneumatic chisel? if you do, put the pointed bit on and hammer on it some. If you dont, do like James C said. Hit it one way, then hit it back. Have patience and take a break when you get aggrevated. It will eventually come out.

 

I have an air hammer without any chisels... I only recently have put the quick connect fitting on it but have yet to use it in either case. I've been whacking the crap out of both sides of the bolt with a hammer after liberally using PB Blaster on it and still have no result. I think I'm going to cut the head of the bolt off and then whatever is poking out of the other side of the sleeve and then center the sleeve in the bushing and pry the SOB out of there. I just went out today and got some more blades for my saw but I had to wait for the battery to charge and now it's too late to try again today, so I'll try again tomorrow. I may end up going out and getting some attachments for the air hammer to push the blasted thing out of the hole.

What is this Kroil stuff and where do I get some? Sounds like some good stuff.

 

A penetrant, like PB Blaster, WD-40, etc.

JamesC

 

Patience: Check.

Beer: Not 21 yet

Cursing: Check, check and check. This will compensate for the lack of beer.

Sit and sulk: Check, plus a little crying in the corner when I read that it took you an hour or more per bolt. -sob-


Oh well, it builds character right?

Could heat be used somehow to help loosen it?

--EDIT-- Heck, maybe I'll just cut the dang bolt off

 

Hmm. I like that.

Patience: Wearing very thin. If it's not one thing going bad, it's another.
Beer: Haven't touched the stuff since the month after my 21st as my stomach revolts even to the smell of the stuff (almost puked one night loading a trailer at FedEx... was shipping cases of wine and I guess a bottle broke somehow).
Cursing:: "Come on, you ^&(^&%*^*$&%, get the ^&^ out of that *&*(&^ sleeve!".
Sulking:: Going to be doing a whole lot of that lately, being without my car and any way to get around to places to buy materials to fix it. Heck, I'll work on it all night if I have to just to get the one freaking bolt out (That's about all that's holding things up... I'm going to cut the blasted brake line and fix it later when I replace it, I guess).
Anti Seize: Probably going to be used just about anywhere 2 metal pieces come together that may need to be removed later as I am not enjoying all the rust I see. Which means I probably should get another tube or a dozen... Or better yet, the can with the brush in the cap, if I can find it.

 

I'm down to cutting the bolts in trying to get my LCAs off.
My question is how do I cut them off without killing myself or cutting something that isn't supposed to be cut?
I'm thinking of just getting a small hacksaw and going at it since I doubt I could control my sawzall in that tight of a space with the car up on jacks.

 

The same thing happened to me when i swaped my rearend. The LCA bolts where frozen to the sleeve inside the bushing. Took me 2 days to get those f-ing bolts out lol. I tried pb blaster and a sludgehammer first, and that didnt work because the rubber absorbs the shock. Then i tried a sawzall and i went through 2 blades, and didnt even get halfway through the first bolt. So i had to use a high speed cutting wheel, and finally that worked. But then i had trouble getting the bushing out of the LCA. I ended up taking the vice off my workbench and found some pipe laying around that was just bigger than the bushing, and i just kinda pushed the bushing out with the vice and the pipe

 

I have new LCAs to go in so the bushings and old LCAs could be mangled beyond recognition and I wouldn't care. lol
OK, metal cutoff wheel on a grinder I am guessing but where did you cut?? The bolt head or did you get your cutoff wheel between the LCA and frame and cutoff off the bolt there? Mine are exactly like yours were. I actually got the rear nuts off and tried hammering the bolt out but it laughed at me. The front ones are so stuck in the rubber my impact does nothing. Thanks fo the help.
I put in rear springs, shocks and panhard bar yesterday in no time flat. I should have known there was trouble lurking in my project that would make me cuss. Seems this car has made me do plenty of that lately.

 

Makes me wonder just how I'm going to get the other end of the same LCA off, the one attached to the axle bracket. I hope the other one doesn't give me the same fits. The axle is out, took me several hours and a couple of charges of the battery, but I managed to get the LCA bolt cut enough to get it out of the bracket.

 

Well i didnt change my LCAs, so i didnt even touch the bolts by the frame. But i actually found a pic of what i did... I basically cut between the LCA and the mounting bracket on the rearend. But i didnt give a fu-k about that rearend, so i didnt care if the bracket got chewed up by the cut off wheel. And actually it wasnt too bad. But in your case, you do not want to F- up your frame. Your gonna have to cut in between the frame and the LCA. I dont know of any other way to get it out. Just take your time cutting and try to stay away from the frame and you should be fine. Good luck man. It took me about 8 hours total to just get my LCA bushings out lol no joke. I tried everything. It sucks, I feel your pain

 

Use a 3.5" grinder to grind the head off the bolt, ten knock it out like you'd normally pull a bolt out. The grinder wheel would be no different than putting lowering brackets on a truck, for lowering the rear.

 

Heres the pic of what i did...

 

I think I threw up in my mouth a little when I read that

I've been putting this off, hard to be motivated when you know the job is going to SUCK!!! Fffuuuuu..... lol.

On the bright side, at least it's only the bolts on the axle that are seized on mine. I pity everyone who has them stuck on both the axle and frame

 

I took on my rear end project that even the PO said he didn't touch so I got everything out fine (with a 2-4' breakerbar) except those damn LCA bushings and bolts.

I realized that if I got the bolts out, I likely wouldn't be able to get the bushings out either, so I got a new set of UMI tubes with poly bushings from summit and off I went.

 

Oh mannnnnnn.......After all the searching Ive done on replacing LCA bushings.....Im really....really not looking forward to this. Sounds like a job for my husband lmao