I'm replacing one of my lower control arms tomorrow. The bolt that goes through the rear bushing into the subframe is seized. When I mean seized I mean to the metal sleeve inside the bushing. Torching and pb blaster will not work on this. The bolt can't be unbolted because with the sleeve seized to the bolt, it won't fit through the hole in the subframe.

I'm probably going to have to cut, but if anyone has come across this before, let me know how you got it off. In one piece preferably, because I'm trying to save the control arm to give to someone else.


Modified by ILcrxsi1 at 12:37 PM 7/21/2006

 

Exact same thing happened on my 91 Teg, had to cut it, as you would unbolt it it would push apart where it was bolted to the subframe, we unbolted it most of the way and then cut the bolt on either side of the LCA....leave a enough room to grab it with a vise grip and unbolt it the rest of the way, it was a pain. You may need to replace the bushing but the LCA will still be good

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Loserkidwac &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Exact same thing happened on my 91 Teg, had to cut it, as you would unbolt it it would push apart where it was bolted to the subframe, we unbolted it most of the way and then cut the bolt on either side of the LCA....leave a enough room to grab it with a vise grip and unbolt it the rest of the way, it was a pain. You may need to replace the bushing but the LCA will still be good</TD></TR></TABLE>



cut between the shock fork and the lca. with the right size cutoff wheel it won't take you too long. with a sawzall you will have a bitch of a time because of the clearance with the top of the shock fork. the most important part of the above advice is to make sure you leave enough sticking out that you can grab it with a pair of vice grips. otherwise you'll have to bust the welded nut off the shock fork, remove everything, and use a washer/nut to put it back together.

it's a pretty common problem- anti-seize if your friend on the reinstall.

 

it's the subframe not the shock fork but you get the idea

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ILcrxsi1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it's the subframe not the shock fork but you get the idea</TD></TR></TABLE>

doh'

sorry, i misunderstood which one you were talking about. same idea though. sawzall is a lot easier to get in there on this one too

 

I put this off for a year and this side of the car wasn't even siezed. Now someone insert that hammer hitting the head icon