Front LCA Bolt seized inside bushing. Best cutting tool

[Morbid]

Thanks, I'll probably just grab the 120mm ones. 115mm works out to ~ 4.5" and 120mm is ~ 4.7 ".
So we're talking 2 tenths of an inch difference in length.
Conversion Formula (mm x 0.03937 = inches).

Within less than a mile of the place I work we have 3 different companies that manufacture Fasteners plus a Grainger store.
The only down side is sometimes I have to buy in packs of 25. It is still cheaper than buying one or two from GM but I have more boxes
of fasteners than I know what to do with

What I really want is to finally hook up with this fellow board member and get those arms. I'm not one who likes sitting around when there's wrench'in to be done.

 

[John Larkin]

There is enough of the bushing shell sticking out of the control arm to get a sawzall blade between the bracket ears and the control arm. You can have it cut out and on the floor in about 5 minutes. Then just disassemble the bushing a piece at a time or press it out. I did this too.

 

[87gninpa]

Tore down the front end today and sure enough, the driver side front bolt was frozen in the sleeve. Used a torch and was able to bang the bolt flush, then used an angle grinder to cut the head off. Banged the bolt back a bit, spread the mount slightly and the arm fell out. Took about an hour to get that one bolt out. Removed upper & lower arms, steering linkage, and steering box in a total of 6 hours (including cutting the bolt out). Really wasnt too bad, going to clean up the frame and reassemble tomorrow. Every ball joint & steering joint was completely shot (car has 206k on it). Cant wait to get it back on the road.

 

[Morbid]

What is it with the DS front bolt on these arms? Well at least you had a plan on moving around it.
Since I can't leave my car(s) up on blocks overnight or longer, I went ahead an got another set of front arms from a board member.

Factory Nuts (NOS) and two Front Bolts came in and I was able to assemble the parts for the GM control arm bushing tool for a very reasonable price.
I hope to tackle this again later next week and finally get the project done. After I clean, prep and paint the other set of arms.

Just hope this HF Ball Joint press I got holds up.

 

[87gninpa]

Good luck when you get around to it. I got the BJ press from Harbor Freight and pressed in the bushings & BJ's to the lower arm, also used it for the rear arms. Pretty sturdy piece for $50. Make sure you space the front lower arms when pressing in the bushings.

 

[Morbid]

Thanks, and yes it's a pretty beefy tool for the price. I had read where some folks said the press bent on them while in use.
When I lifted it at the store I was like, man how did they bend this it's so heavy? The bolt maybe?

 

[87gninpa]

No idea how you could break it, I put mine through hell.

 

[charlief1]

Thanks, and yes it's a pretty beefy tool for the price. I had read where some folks said the press bent on them while in use.
When I lifted it at the store I was like, man how did they bend this it's so heavy? The bolt maybe?

Usually the press will bend when it's put into a bind. I've seen it happen and that's how I got my press. Just had to put it in a mill to square it back up.

 

[Morbid]

Sweet.. I just did the first bj on the lower arms I got. There doesn't seem to be a sleeve that fits exactly plus I'm using the press with the arm off the car.
By not having the right sleeve you have to finagle around a with the tool a lot. Also the stem where the castle nut goes always seems to want to move off center.

 

[Morbid]

Second arm w/the hf ball joint tool I wised up. Grabbed a piece of 3/16" thick scrap bar I had laying around and laid that across the receiver then placed the tool on.
Map torch for 5 mins before and the joint came out in another with a few turns. Less than 5 mins. No muss no fuss and the tool didn't break a sweat.

 

[Morbid]

Got it out, finally.

The first day was trying to get it out saving the bolt. didn't work.

Then switched to cutting the bolt head and thread end off. Getting a cutting disk flush to get the bolt head off was a chore. Tie Rods in the way. Even after getting both the bolt head and the thread end cut flush bolt still wouldn't bang through.

Second day (yesterday) after grinding what was left of the bolt to get it flush I still could not pull the ears out out far enough to for the damn thing to drop.

Burned out the bushing where it sticks out of the end of the LCA. Using a pry bar I was able to get my 4.5" Angle Grinder in between the mount and the LCA to cut the front end of the bolt flush with the bushing. Now I have a nothing in the front mount hole and the inner sleeve will move and so will the bolt.

Had to remove the FSM tool for the Front Springs and replace it with a regular jack under the LCA.

It took some more work using chisels but I was finally able to get at the end of bushing inner sleeve at the rear of the LCA and wiggle it forward, moving the bolt, enough to free the rest of the bolt from the mount hole.

It was then I heard the sweetest sound in the world, the sound of the load being dropped from the spring.

Have to fill in the gouges caused by the cutting wheel I made in the frame and get the castle nut off Ball Joint to drop the arm.

What a job and this was just for one stinking bolt.