Any Ideas?

[djsSHO]

Ok well I thought i'd be happy by this time enjoying the fruits of my labor, but now I think I have sailed my SHO up a long and dark creek.

I'm in the rust belt. Started changing my springs and struts. First wheel. Go to remove pinch bolt in the rear, bolt goes about 3 threads and shears off. oooook. Drive car home, cut a flat on other side of bolt in an attempt to heat bolt and use a large screwdriver. NOPE. Ok try drilling out bolt. NOPE. Drilled hole but it ran off center as knuckle seems to be softer than bolt. Tried drilling from other side. Started doing the same thing. OK I'll just remove the whole knuckle and at least get it out of the car. Get the 2 control arm nuts off and the strut rod nut. Go to remove the control arm bolts, Uh No. Took about 30 minutes of pounding to get the rear off, but the front won't budge. The control arm has seized itself to the bolt. So now i have a half removed knuckle, and a pinch bolt hole that is really messed up.

My plan for tomorrow is to attempt to remove the control arms at the frame, but I'm worried i will run into the same problem with the control arms seized to the bolts. Does anyone have any suggestions?

And if your suggestion is to install a new knuckle and control arms, does anyone have some they wouldn't mind parting with cheaply??

Sorry for long post, I am disgusted at this point. I am not liking the SHO. Time to sell it for a florida one.

 

[pjtoledo]

The rubber bushings inside the control arms have a split steel sleeve that is in contact with the bolts. It is possible to insert a small screwdriver into the spilt where the two sides meet and open it up just enough to break the rust. You'll need a hammer, and a few 1/8" screwdrivers that you will destroy. Good luck, that job ain't fun. Align the screwdriver so it runs parallel with the bolt and hammer it in.

Perry

 

[pete c]

when my pich bolts snapped (both sides, of course) I removed the knuckle with the strut and put the whole thing in a bench. I then pried open the knuckle slot and cut the exposed part of the bolt out. I then punched the snapped off into the slot and repeated. After doing this a few times, That side of the bolt was gone. I was able to turn the threaded part out into the slot and cut it out. This procedure took a while and was a PITA, but, the knuckle is saved.

 

[Ishodu]

It does seem the the shoulder of the bolt gets more stuck than the threads. If you can get a saw blade in there and cut off the bolt at the tab you may get lucky and be able to remove the threads then.

 

[pete c]

You are correct. I've done it, twice. It sucks, but, it can be done. A sawzall helps, BTW.

 

[djsSHO]

Ended up getting both rear knuckles out of vehicle cut the bolt by the strut flag with a metal cutting wheel and then drilling out the halves of the bolts and then tapping the threads to clean em back up.

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[RCM]

I much prefer a bolt/nut (like at the ball joint) to the original setup.
Can just drill them out and replace with the next size larger bolt/nut (nylok nut, or lockwasher, and/or Loctite)...usually much faster than trying to save the threads in the spindle/knuckle and will never have the same problem again...just remove the nut and tap out the bolt.
Started doing this ~6yrs ago and haven't had any trouble whatsoever.

Russ
RCM Automotive
http://home.earthlink.net/~rcm_automotive/