PITA Rear Control Arm Removal

[platoribs]

Besides liberal use of PB is there some handy dandy trick to getting the inner sleeve of the control arms to let go of the bolt?

I've watched two fairly enthusiastic wrenchers go at these and come away empty handed.

Any advice much appreciated!

 

[Rockledge]

There is a slit in the sleeve, try pounding a thin screwdriver in it and along it. Essentially you want to pry apart the sleeve, to try and get it to loosen it's "grip".

 

[1993MTXSHO]

hit um with a hammer and lots of pb thats how i got mine off.

 

[wood_e]

When I replaced my rear suspension I had to stick a screwdriver in the slot and pound it until it was large enough to get the control arm off easily. PB blaster will help, but you need to open it up a bit.

 

[platoribs]

When I replaced my rear suspension I had to stick a screwdriver in the slot and pound it until it was large enough to get the control arm off easily. PB blaster will help, but you need to open it up a bit.

Andy? Jack?
You listening?

 

[noSHO4u]

Easier said than done! We ended up using the pickle fork that is used for the front control arms to pry the bushing away from the rear control arm! Only problem was that instead of the bushing sliding off of the bolt, the sleeve in the bushing separated itself from the actual bushing because it was fused to the bolt!

Once the control arms were off of the knuckles, I had to do a similar procedure (as descibed above) to get the sleeves off of the bolts themselves. Two of the four bolts that hold the control arms to the knuckles still had them attached. After about a half hour (on each side) of heat, PB, prying, and pounding, they finally separated themselves. I took a close look at the bolts themselves and at the spots where the sleeves had fused to the bolts, they were covered in so much rust and dirt it was to the point that you couldn't see the threads anymore! A good wire brush cleaning should make them good as new.

Working on car that live in the rust belt sucks.

 

[pjtoledo]

Easier said than done! We ended up using the pickle fork that is used for the front control arms to pry the bushing away from the rear control arm! Only problem was that instead of the bushing sliding off of the bolt, the sleeve in the bushing separated itself from the actual bushing because it was fused to the bolt!

Once the control arms were off of the knuckles, I had to do a similar procedure (as descibed above) to get the sleeves off of the bolts themselves. Two of the four bolts that hold the control arms to the knuckles still had them attached. After about a half hour (on each side) of heat, PB, prying, and pounding, they finally separated themselves. I took a close look at the bolts themselves and at the spots where the sleeves had fused to the bolts, they were covered in so much rust and dirt it was to the point that you couldn't see the threads anymore! A good wire brush cleaning should make them good as new.

Working on car that live in the rust belt sucks.

Gotta luv that road salt!

Once the sleeves are exposed a cut-off wheel can be used to cut another lengthwise slit. If you want a real challenge, try to get those rusted bolts out of the spindle, or worse, the inside ends where the arms attach to the car.

Perry

 

[TYSHO]

I had rust on one of my SHO's and I just went out a rented a pulley remover deal with the option of a 2 or 3 jaw. I hooked it up with the 2 and pulled the arm off with only the bushing, the insert stayed in place. After that, I sprayed PB blaster in the slit and everywhere around the inserts, then the next day I did the same and used a flat head screwdriver to insert in the little slit the inserts have. I beat it with a hammer to break it loose and spin it around some, not directly down and on the bolt. This helped knock the rust loose and move some, then I put the flat head back in and twisted it, prying the slit apart to let go of the rust. About 5 minutes later, the insert came out and I cleaned it out with a file and threw in some **** for the next time. Putting the bushing back on the insert was another story and I used the nut to push it back in with **** inside the bushing to help slide. If I was going to use the same knuckles, I would'nt even had tried to take the insert sleeves off, just put the arms back on. However, one bolt was snapped, so I changed all of the suspension back there to Texas rust free parts!

 

[wood_e]

Andy? Jack?
You listening?

uh, i'm confused...

 

[noSHO4u]

I've watched two fairly enthusiastic wrenchers go at these and come away empty handed.

Andy? Jack?
You listening?

uh, i'm confused...

Jack and Andy are the two fairly enthusiastic wrenchers that Chris (platoribs) was talking about. Jack is noSHO4u and Andy is inverse1216.

 

[inverse1216]

using the flat head to pry apart the sleeve is not a bad idea but i dont think you can get it in there with it still in the bushing. once the bushing is off then you can get to the sleeve. we were having a really hard time with jacks car. whats odd is both inside control arms were the ones that were frozen the two outside ones came off with a few hits of the hammer. my car is quite clean on the under side so i had no problem removing the control arms where they attach to the knuckle but one was frozen in the h-box ive got adj. control arms to put on now so i will most likely cut the bolt or drill it out.

we tried using the air ratchet but it ending up snapping the bolt. im more of a wrench and hammer guy and breaking it loose then maybe go at it with the air tools.

my car is up next for suspension work so i will see how it goes. it seems like the pinch bolts are the most challenging. ill get this down to a science eventually.

andy

 

[TYSHO]

it seems like the pinch bolts are the most challenging. ill get this down to a science eventually.

Those are the easiest. I found the best way going about those with rust when I did my suspension work. You're going to want an impact and work it back and forth for a little bit. You put it in reverse, give a tap or two, then move it to tightened it back up with a tap or two on the impact. I repeated this as it worked itself out with no problem. Once it backs out at least a 1/4", your good to go at it and spin it out.

 

[wood_e]

Believe me, it wasn't easy for me. I used a TON of PB Blaster (with the bushing in there) and just hammered the **** out of a read: lifetime warranty flathead.

I think I've got a thread on it if you search. Search for my name and LCA.

 

[LeddZepp8687]

using the flat head to pry apart the sleeve is not a bad idea but i dont think you can get it in there with it still in the bushing. once the bushing is off then you can get to the sleeve. we were having a really hard time with jacks car. whats odd is both inside control arms were the ones that were frozen the two outside ones came off with a few hits of the hammer. my car is quite clean on the under side so i had no problem removing the control arms where they attach to the knuckle but one was frozen in the h-box ive got adj. control arms to put on now so i will most likely cut the bolt or drill it out.

we tried using the air ratchet but it ending up snapping the bolt. im more of a wrench and hammer guy and breaking it loose then maybe go at it with the air tools.

my car is up next for suspension work so i will see how it goes. it seems like the pinch bolts are the most challenging. ill get this down to a science eventually.

andy

Front pinch bolts arent too bad.

Rear's are a real PITA...I got them loose pretty quickly, then just kept turning them, yea it broke...Gotta loosen them up, go back in, back out, ect....Heat helps alot too!

 

[inverse1216]

we were using an impact but everytime we would back it in to back it out it wouldnt budge. at first we tried to remove it and it came out a little bit then backed it in and it wouldnt come back out and then the bolt just snapped.