Rear upper shackle bolt is seized!!

The rear upper shackle bolt on my 96 is seized to the sleeve of the shackle bushing.I can unscrew it untill it is no longer threaded into the welded nut, but then it starts pulling hte sleeve out with it, mushrooming the moutning area. I can't really get my angle grinder into it and if I grind the outside off, I will be left with a bolt that has about a 1/4 inch on each side and no way to unscrew it. Any ideas? and yes it has been soaking in penetrant.

The way I've dealt with this in the past is to get a thin cut off abrasive blade of about 6" diameter and pull the shields off of my 4.5" grinder and hook it up. You can then slide the blade up between the shackle and the bracket. It will ruin the rubber grommets but will get the job done.

The hassle is that there is a metal sleeve inside the rubber grommet. It has rusted to the bolt. Even though the bolt unscrews, the bolt can't come out because the sleeve is too big for the hole in the bracket.

A sawzall with a metal cutting blade is not the ideal solution because the bolt is hardened and will tend to dull the blade real quick.

Great idea, I didn't even think of pullingthe guard off my grinder. That should make quick work of it. Thanks.

braeden said:

Great idea, I didn't even think of pullingthe guard off my grinder. That should make quick work of it. Thanks.

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Grinders make SPARKY !! :flame: please be careful...

red91inWA said:

Grinders make SPARKY !! :flame: please be careful...

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sparky make rusty burned hole in cornea....... please be careful...

i actually had pretty good luck with a sawzall..

mike

REally?!?! I never would have guessed a disc spining at 11,00 rpm on metal would spark. The guard on my grinder doesn't do sh!t anyway; it only mounts at 12 or 6 o'clock and the sparks have flown passed the guard by then. I look so rad with my snowboard goggles on doing grining in the driveway.

SawZall and some good bladesThat is how I got the front eye bolts out of my '91. Used 4 blades per side... They wear down fast trying to cut hardened steel.

A sawzall with a metal cutting blade is not the ideal solution because the bolt is hardened and will tend to dull the blade real quick

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I have found that it depends on the blade. I used two Craftsman sawzall blades on said bolt and they hardly touched it. Bought a DeWalt blade and it went through it easily.
Grinder and cutoff wheel sounds faster though.

ACE said:

I have found that it depends on the blade. I used two Craftsman sawzall blades on said bolt and they hardly touched it. Bought a DeWalt blade and it went through it easily.
Grinder and cutoff wheel sounds faster though.

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I used Milwakee(sp?) blades.... Supose to be one of the best 24 teeth/inch.

I tried to use a wheel but it would cut into the bracket, so I stuck with a SawZall.

braeden
I took me a whole 10 days too remove the original rear leafs.
I feel fer ya bud. :thumbup:

Had the same problem a few days ago, ended up cutting the bolt inbetween the bracket and the shackle with a sawzall, destroyed one blade, but it worked. The other side came out just fine.