I'm trying to replace the panhard bar in my 86 camaro. noticed some rear end play in him. the driver side, after being pb blasted and sitting for awhile wont even budge, even with an impact gun. passenger side is loose, but both the nut and bolt freespin, and the bolt seems bent. any ideas, tips, or tricks to get this darn old rusty thing off?

 

i just replaced my panhard bar last night on my firebird.. those bolts are a bit@h i live in az with no rust and they were hard to get off. i would cut them off and just buy some replacements.. it will save a huge headach instead of trying to mangle your knuckels trying to break them free and punching your body of the car or break drum

 

sounds good, here in the seattle area we get more then our fair share of rain, rust is a killer up here.

 

haha yeah thats to bad, im from upstate new york so i have seen rust. i have learned bolts are super easy just to buy and cut the old rusty ones off, but if you can get some penetrating oil on them for a night it might help nreak them loose good luck man

 

what bolt size are they? i can go buy a couple befor i cut these suckers off.

 

Maybe try a bigger impact gun?

 

When all else fails use a breaker bar and possibly even a piece of pipe to extend it. I had to do that to get the torque arm to rear end bolts out. They would not budge.

 

The big breaker bar gets my vote.

 

yup a good breaker bar will always help out, agreed

 

Huh? To me, that says the bolt snapped? Are you sure it's just not being hungup by axle weight or something?

 

its like the nut was loose, and rusted to the bolt. u get a 18mm ratchet to the bolt, nut on the other end spins with it. gonna just sawzall em off, bushings are shot, and i get a new bar anyways

 

if you gotta... cutoff wheel the center of the bolt (right between the 2 sites of the mount). Just order new bolts from spohn

 

yep, i chopped em off.

 

I dont mean to thread hijack but I had the reverse problem. I cant get the old bolts through the new panhard rod (founders) and noticed Jeff had asked unanswered what size bolts they are. I would also like to know that and if the increase in diameter after the threads is important so I can get new bolts.

 

no worries bud, I did a tad more research on here, i believe it was ASEDOC that mentioned that a 1991 Z28 used M12x1.5 bolts. With that being said i looked up the 91 panhard bar, same part # as the one i have, went down and bought some 10.2 grade bolts, which were the ones that i chopped off there. i think they were in the 50-60mm in length, then i bought some nuts and washers and it seemed to be a direct match, new bar, new bolts, and no more rear end wobble! hope that helps you out.

 

if you need to know what size a bolt is, just head to the wrench drawer of your tool box and see which open end wrench fits over the bolt..

 

Nova:
I knew the bolt was a 21mm head with an 18mm nut from removing it. My concerns were more in regards to the threads on the bolt being one diameter then increasing in size for the unthreaded part. I was unsure if I needed a special bolt that matched those features.
Jeff:
Thanks for sharing the benefits of your research. Did you go with a full thread bolt or a partial thread bolt?

 

The panhard uses a step bolt, and the holes on either side of both mounts are different sizes to work with the step bolt. Yhou have to use the correct bolt, a standard non stepped bolt will not work

 

Is this something I could find at home depot or the like?