Rear lower control arm bolt stuck

schelini

Member
Jul 14, 2018
12
4
13
New York
The bottom bolt on the rear lower control arm does not want to come out. I hammered it for an hour and it wouldn't budge. I managed to fit a ball joint press on there and got it to move like a millimeter. Any one know a better way to get this bolt out?


633297

633296
 
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Sawzall it out and buy another.
It's seized in the sleeve, it's not coming out regardless of what you do.
I forgot the grade and size of that bolt, but i do know that it can be had locally at fastenal, although it will be an allen key head.
Not long ago i drove all over the place to find it.

Edit:
According to the foxbody nuts and bolts sticky, this is the size:
12mm x 1.75 x 100mm

I still don't recall the grade of bolt, but i know you aren't getting it at home depot.
It's also ok if it's a little longer.
 
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I had that happen on the front control arm of a 69' Camaro one time. It took hours of constant heat from a torch, and beating it out with a hammer. If you can get a pry bar up under the head of the bolt to just put a little pressure on it, and then spin it back wards with an impact, that might screw it back out.

Kurt
 
Air hammer. I’ve yet to have a bolt one won’t knock out.

I second that just hitting it with an impact might break it loose. Sometimes they do screw right out.

Your local hardware store should have some 10.9 grade bolts you can replace it with.
 
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You guys have more faith in this bolt coming out (and not destroying anything) than i do.
I've had it happen twice, i'll assume it was the salt in NJ.
First time it was a stock control arm and really didn't matter, they were getting tossed anyway.
Second time was in one of my steeda control arms, so after cutting it out, i still could not get bolt out on a bench.

I don't think finding the bolt is going to be that easy either.
I went to all my goto places for bolts (not the first to have trouble finding them), literally the place i was told not to waste my time at, had them.

If you damage the bolt trying to smash it out, there really isn't any reason to waste more time, sawzall it, remove the arm, then you can pour pb blaster in the hole and work on it in a vice or on the bench if you need to save the bushing.
If you are changing the arms, really don't waste a minute more on it.
 
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Just to check all the boxes and have a 100% clear understanding..... you are not lifting the car by the control arm... right? so the jack is just there so the arm doesn't come flying down... right?
PB blaster all over and the air hammer, if it doesn't work, cut the bad boy out.

good luck
 
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Just to check all the boxes and have a 100% clear understanding..... you are not lifting the car by the control arm... right? so the jack is just there so the arm doesn't come flying down... right?
PB blaster all over and the air hammer, if it doesn't work, cut the bad boy out.

good luck

Right it's being lifted by jack stands under the torque boxes. Last night I just cut through the control arm between the spring perch and the rear bushing so I could remove the spring and most of the control arm. Now that I have a lot more room to work with I'll try cutting the bolt out. I already have the new bolts and control arms from MM so not worried at all about destroying them. Currently my issue is the sawzall gets stuck on the rubber bushing but it's slowly cutting through.
 
The bottom bolt on the rear lower control arm does not want to come out. I hammered it for an hour and it wouldn't budge. I managed to fit a ball joint press on there and got it to move like a millimeter. Any one know a better way to get this bolt out?


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Are you taking the control arm out while the spring is still in, compressed with the jack????

If so, stop, unbolt the shock from the rearend, let the pressure off (slowly) the rearend drops and releasing the pressure on the spring.

Take the spring out and now try.

If that doesnt work, air impact and take a wrench and wedge between the head of the bolt and mount. Pry on the head while impacting
 
Are you taking the control arm out while the spring is still in, compressed with the jack????

If so, stop, unbolt the shock from the rearend, let the pressure off (slowly) the rearend drops and releasing the pressure on the spring.

Take the spring out and now try.

If that doesnt work, air impact and take a wrench and wedge between the head of the bolt and mount. Pry on the head while impacting

I got it out finally. I took the control arm out with the spring still in because that's what the MM instructions tell you to do.
 
I went to their site and looked and it would appear you are right.
Although it seems crazy to me.

It's not crazy; you aren't getting the spring out until the bolt is out. The control arm does not articulate far enough to get the spring out with the control arm still attached to the axle.

Kurt
 
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It's not crazy; you aren't getting the spring out until the bolt is out. The control arm does not articulate far enough to get the spring out with the control arm still attached to the axle.

Kurt
Maybe I'm just confused, but I've had 4 sets of control arms and at least as many sets of springs, including stock springs and all I've ever done is jack the car up by the center of the rear, take the wheels off, take the lower shock bolts out, put jack stands under the back end of the subs, let the jack down to a safe point in the rubber center brake hose, put some weight on disc/drum on each side separately, pull out the spring. I assure you, not once did I ever take the control arm bolt out with the spring in.
 
Maybe I'm just confused, but I've had 4 sets of control arms and at least as many sets of springs, including stock springs and all I've ever done is jack the car up by the center of the rear, take the wheels off, take the lower shock bolts out, put jack stands under the back end of the subs, let the jack down to a safe point in the rubber center brake hose, put some weight on disc/drum on each side separately, pull out the spring. I assure you, not once did I ever take the control arm bolt out with the spring in.

Same here. Disconnected shock, dropped axle (pulled down to help) and removed spring by hand.

process I follow to remove control arm bolts is-
soak with PB blaster first.
Hold nut steady then spin bolt.
You have a better chance of breaking the bolt loose from the collar it goes through if you rotate the bolts, not the nut. The collar often has teeth in the end which bite into the bracket to prevent it from rotating. When the nut is installed it squeezes the bracket and puts pressure on the teeth to keep it from spinning. As soon as you remove the nut, the collar can rotate with the bolt.

If this does not wok, 5 pound hammer, impact hammer, saw or what ever it takes.
 
Maybe I'm just confused, but I've had 4 sets of control arms and at least as many sets of springs, including stock springs and all I've ever done is jack the car up by the center of the rear, take the wheels off, take the lower shock bolts out, put jack stands under the back end of the subs, let the jack down to a safe point in the rubber center brake hose, put some weight on disc/drum on each side separately, pull out the spring. I assure you, not once did I ever take the control arm bolt out with the spring in.

That sounds like more work than just pulling one bolt and dropping the control arm at the risk of exceeding the tensile strength of the brake line. I'll give it a go next time and see how it works though. I've just never seen it done that way.

Kurt