newgsman

iTrader: (4)

This has been discussed somewhat but I have not seen anything that is working for me so I am someone has got some new idea for me.

The situation is that the camber adjusting bolts on my front lower control arms are seized into the steel bushing in the center of the control arm bushing. Both sides (driver, passenger) have the same problem.

I have trying different things for four days now and the bolts seem to be as seized as ever. The nut at the end of the bolt has come off easily but the bolt wont slide out.

Here's what I tried so far:

1) Sprayed penetrtating oil every day for four days.
2) banged the crap out of the bolts for four days using 2lb mini-sledge
3) applied heat to bushing using propane torch, banged the crap out of bolt
4) tried sawsall but unable to penetrate the bushing. there doesnt seem to be enough space to get the sawsall blade right on the bolt itself.
5) sprayed tran fluid on the bolt tonight, will see what happens on day five
6) tried impact wrench on bolt head, no luck..
7)tried a few hits with 8 lb sledge but I am scared to wreck the control arm mounting bracket.

I don't have real torches so I can't just cut the control arms off. I also don't want to destroy the cross member. I have spare control arms so, I don't mind wreck the arms

My 3 inch cut off tool is not large enough to get through the entire bolt.

Anybody have any other ideas or any thing I can do better with what I have tried already?

newgsman

iTrader: (4)

day five -- tranny fluid did not help.

tried my eight pund sledge again --no luck

bought new metal blades 14tpi for the sawsall and went at it for about 45mins. Didn't seem to even scratch the bushing.

I think I might just drop the whole crossmember and get another one from the junk yard with the control arms already removed. Just got to find a way to keep the motor up. My engine crane is under a whole pile of junk in the garage that I am not too keen on moving unless I absotlutely have to...

sam430

iTrader: (10)

uhh... sounds crazy. I really really want to see pic.

newgsman

iTrader: (4)

here are some pics

99 GS3

iTrader: (14)

Cut-off wheel on a angle grinder, 2 minutes no problem.

No way would I do a whole crossmember swap for a stuck bolt. If you don't have a grinder go buy a cheap one from lowes or harbor freight, it will work fine for this.

newgsman

iTrader: (4)

I am worried about getting the cutt-off wheel to close to the flange. If you look at the first pic you can see that there is not much space between the flange and the control arm. Will the cut-off wheel go right through the control arm if I want to stay away from the flange?

99 GS3

iTrader: (14)

If the wheel diameter is to big and hits the gusset above, cut/grind the bolthead off the end..

An air hammer might pound the bolt out if your compressor is big enough. Or if you got a big comp see if you can borrow a high torque impact that might spin that bolt. I use a 250lb impact for most stuff, but have a 780lb that I only pull out for stuff like this, and it usually just twists the bolt in half, and I drive the rest out with a an air hammer..

It looks as if the tie rods are in the way of really getting some swing from a full length sledge, It might be worth taking the bolts off the rack and let it hang down, there is enough slop in the lines for it to droop a few inches to give you some more room.

Good Luck, I know it sucks. I've been there on ball joints, rod ends, and various other bolts over the years. At some point it just gonna pop right out like it won't nothing.

99 GS3

iTrader: (14)

That's an awful lot of oil under there for being the passenger side away from typical filter change spills that would be on the driver side. Have you looked into possible leaks on the motor?

vwynn

iTrader: (4)

goddannggg you got some bad oil leak or something.

if the bolt still has its shape try a air impact. Just be careful not to strip the bolt... if u do then ur Effed and your next plan is to cut it.

OR

if all fails.. just unbolt that flange n buy another one


PS: i want your sways

VNN326

iTrader: (21)

^^ sways as in girlfriend or wife.

newgsman

iTrader: (4)

Ok, I'm all done. I bought myself a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder and cut off the control arms -- literally.

I dropped the crossmember so I could have good access to everything. I wanted a 7 inch cutoff tool but it was too expensive so I decided to take everything down and use the smaller tool. I cut the arm off right at the base so that I could spin the whole bushing around and cut half from one side and half from the other side.

Took me abought half an hour for the first bolt and progressively less time for the others.

The oil you saw in the pictures was mostly all the penetrating stuff I was spraying over five days. There is also a small power steering leak. I guess thats going to be abother project.

I also found out that my motor mounts are done. There' s another expense...

I put the TRD sways in a couple of years ago.

99 GS3

iTrader: (14)

Glad to see you got it done. And the 4 1/2" grinder is all you need for car work man, it will tackle anything you put in front of it no problem. The 7" has less blade options, pricier blades, to big to fit alot of places on a car. The 7" is more for construction like like cutting i-beams, basement poles, lintel headers, and flitch plates.

sakataj

iTrader: (182)

fix this before you lose your alternator also....was a common problem on the early model gs's