I just got my 98 LS, first thing I gotta do to the car is lower it.

Front went smooth.
I get to the rear , spray down the 14mm bolt that runs across the bottom of the strut though the control arm.

Got my nice 1/2 drive 2ft pry bar, and pop goes the head off the bolt.

What do i do ?
Has anyone had this happen to them before ?

my olny idea is to cut the strut at the bottom were the nut is attatched to the strut, and then hopefully hammer out the part of the bolt left inside the control arm ?


any tips would be helpfull please .


Modified by maxspeed96ct at 1:15 PM 6/30/2008

 

This happens quite commonly. The bolt shank is seized in the shock bushing. You must do the following:

1) Cut the bolt shank on both sides between the shock and LCA. (use a saws-all or angle grinder with a thin blade)
2) Remove the shock.
3) Burn out the center of the old bushing with a torch.
4) Cut the bushing race in two locations to split it and remove it. (You can assemble a hack-saw through the hole.)
5) Cleane the hole in the LCA.
6) Replace the bushing. many people use Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings.

Be careful of the ABS harness when cutting.

 

Thanks bro

anyone know if the bushing is sold at local auto parts stores ?

 

your local federated will have a bushing kit with a press in style bushing that you will need a ball joint press or you can go through an online store or summit racing to get the poly ones dogginator is talking about and those slide in.

 

or you can follow this. you are not a lone. lol. i am undergoing this process as well. it's been a month now that my front is lowered and not rear. i'm just waiting to pick up my friends saw so i can saw those damn things off.

 

i cut the nut off on the opposite side and baught a new oem bolt, then went to a hardware store and baught a lock washer and nut. If you got a new strut it dont really matter. You just need a new bolt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JReal &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i cut the nut off on the opposite side and baught a new oem bolt, then went to a hardware store and baught a lock washer and nut. If you got a new strut it dont really matter. You just need a new bolt.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Your situation must have been an exception. I could not use a drift to punch my bolt stub out of the bushing center.

 

dont worry im on the same boat as you, i still havent done this yet.

Been to busy , and I dont feel like starting it on a weekday after work incase I dont finsih in time, I hate working in the dark....

I gona try to cut the bolt, and get myself some poly bushings. But i may end up buying a new strut if I cant get the bolt part out of it , i fuked the thread side of the bolt up pritty bad with vise grips.....


I hopin to do it friday, and ill post pics of the drop after

 

you will need to burn the bushing out if its siezed

if your car has ANY rust on it, then more than likely the bolt is seized in the metal sleeve inside the bushing, burn it out, i wasted 5 hours trying to save the bushing, NOT worth it

 

Ok so my bolt is seezed in the bushing.

I got this from napa, http://partimages2.genpt.com/partimages/283437.jpg

I know you guys said to burn it out, so im going to give it a shot

http://www.napaonline.com/Mast...nsion

That thing is rusted to hell in there, ish me luck, i might just let the car sit til lsat hen i know i got time to work on this.

Iv lowerd alot of cars, but this has to be the worst so far....


Modified by maxspeed96ct at 7:22 PM 7/9/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by maxspeed96ct &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I got this from napa, http://partimages2.genpt.com/partimages/283437.jpg</TD></TR></TABLE>

That bushing from Napa needs to be pressed into the LCA. Do you plan to remove the other two bolts in the LCA so that you can press the new bushing? The Energy Suspension urethane bushing requires no press.

 

when i did mine on both my dc's everything went fine. the trick is to give it love and attiention

 

it helps to jack up the lca and hub so that its level and theres less pressure on the bolt as well. i just ran into the same problem. when i went to the other side, I used wd40 and it didnt break.

 

Im hoping love and attention will do the trick....

Ikinda couldnt wait for the energy busings, needed this done yesterday....

I used wd40, pb blaster, all that ish. On the left side i hit it ith a 500ftlb impact gun at 155psi.. Thing wont budge.

Ill post some pics later when im done with the hole thing.


thanks for your help bros. I got both struts out, and new ones ready. All I gotta do is get the old bushing out and new one in. just goin off to buy a torch now..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by maxspeed96ct &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Im hoping love and attention will do the trick....</TD></TR></TABLE>

Love and attention would have involved removing those bolts and applying plenty of antiseize when the car was new.

Consider that a hint for reassembly.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by teg your it &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">or you can follow this. you are not a lone. lol. i am undergoing this process as well. it's been a month now that my front is lowered and not rear. i'm just waiting to pick up my friends saw so i can saw those damn things off.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you follow that guide PLEASE ignore that he used metric Grade 8.8 bolts.

Metric 8.8 is NOT the same as SAE Grade 8. They are the same as SAE grade 5, and are not acceptable for suspension bolts.

OEM bolts are metric 10.9, you should be able to pick them up at a good hardware store (an Ace near me carries them), the dealer (not cheap, but not going to kill you when they snap either), or a fastener store (Fastenal, etc).

 

Finaly done!

The bushing came out easy.
Heated it, and pried with a screw driver and it fell out.
The cut the outside part in 3 places and it poped out with a few hits to a flathead.

Going back in wasnt so easy.

But i finaly got it without taking out the control arm.

Impact gun helped alot, i dont i could have done it without it.

Heres what i used to press the bushing in.





the old goodies




Final pic, puts a smile on my face



thanks bros!