What the duece?

Well, I ordered some lower control arms from Rusty's Offroad the other day. Got them in the mail yesterday, and started installing them this morning. So far, we've gotten one end of one of the stock control arms out. The frame end is binding up like a mother on something, but we can't tell what it is. We've got it about 1/3 of the way out. It wiggles from side to side, but has a real hard time getting it out with a wrench. We'll twist it, then it will want to twist back to just a little before where it was. Anybody have any idea what is causing this? It's really pissing me off. If we can find a replacement bolt, we're going to just cut the old bolt out.

On a happy note, I'm on spring break.

its probably rusted. i'm pretty sure the bushing has a metal sleeve inside it. that metal sleeve is probably rusty, causing binding between the metal sleeve and the bolt.
PB blaster might help.
heat may help, but cook those old bushings. MAPP gas or straight oxygen from the hardware store will work.
if all else fails, sawzall.

nothing a little hammer can't fix. lca's you said? if it comes down to it, unbolt the axle shim and it should fall right out.

cherowagon said:

nothing a little hammer can't fix. lca's you said? if it comes down to it, unbolt the axle shim and it should fall right out.

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Already tried a hammer, with no prevail. And it's not attached to the axel end, just the frame end. Also been hammering it with PB Blaster. Also, our new air tools won't budge it at all. We can slowly, and I mean SLOWLY budge it out by using a wrench and all the strength we have. But it only moves about a quarter of a rotation per rotation of the wrench. This is really starting to get on my nerves......

We can't find a replacement bolt anywhere so sawzall is out of a question.

You can use a grade 8 bolt from any hardware store. Then order the right bolt later if needed. The bolt in there is a metric 10.8 which is the same as a grade 8 SAE. Heat it up and hammer on it. Or, cutoff the bolt head and punch it through. The bolt is probably rusted to the bushing sleeve and will need to be punched out.

oh, sorry. i meant the shim on the lower control arm mount on the frame end. there are two bolts sticking out the back. undo those nuts, and viola!

Midnight Krawler said:

You can use a grade 8 bolt from any hardware store. Then order the right bolt later if needed. The bolt in there is a metric 10.8 which is the same as a grade 8 SAE. Heat it up and hammer on it. Or, cutoff the bolt head and punch it through. The bolt is probably rusted to the bushing sleeve and will need to be punched out.

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Trust me, we tried that one. We ended up cutting it with a sawzall and wacking it out. I'll finish it tomarrow and take some pictures.

cherowagon said:

oh, sorry. i meant the shim on the lower control arm mount on the frame end. there are two bolts sticking out the back. undo those nuts, and viola!

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Are you nuts,that wont do anything.