im doing a rear end swap and the upper and lower control arm bolts are not comming off.....ive hit it with a hammer, torched it, liquid wrenched it, put a ratchet on it w/ piping for leverage, and put the air tools on it at 145psi....still wont fu-kin come off!!!.....am i doing something wrong??? should i raise the psi higher???? anything will help...thanks
Control arm BOLTS!!!!!! help
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Are you turning the bolt the right way? Remember.... Loosen= Counterclockwise 
But seriously have fun man.... they are a pain. I had a hell of time when I changed my control arm's for the first time. Just basically keep working at them, I've alway's found torching them to the point were they just start turning orange and then reefing on them is the only way your going to break them loose. Keep spraying lube on them as well. Whatever you do don't strip anything or you will have an even bigger nightmare on your hand's. When you get them out and go to install your other rear end I recomend putting a small coating of used oil on the bolt's, that way if you ever have to pull it out again or swap control arm's you won't be fighting with them again as the oil will prevent them from siezing up and rust. I've changed control arm's and rear end's on my car's alot and every other time has been a breeze. It's the first time that is hell.
But seriously have fun man.... they are a pain. I had a hell of time when I changed my control arm's for the first time. Just basically keep working at them, I've alway's found torching them to the point were they just start turning orange and then reefing on them is the only way your going to break them loose. Keep spraying lube on them as well. Whatever you do don't strip anything or you will have an even bigger nightmare on your hand's. When you get them out and go to install your other rear end I recomend putting a small coating of used oil on the bolt's, that way if you ever have to pull it out again or swap control arm's you won't be fighting with them again as the oil will prevent them from siezing up and rust. I've changed control arm's and rear end's on my car's alot and every other time has been a breeze. It's the first time that is hell.
There are times when all you can do is take a cutting wheel to them. I had to cut off all of my control arm bolts. They were too corroded. I even attached a 6 ft breaker bar and jumped on it. Oh yeah, they broke it loose...sheared the bolt in half, but the nut didn't budge. The main problem with mine is that inside the rubber bushing is a metal sleeve, and this sleeve was rusted solid to the bolt running through it. Even with the nut sheared/cut off, the bolt was stuck. Some of these bolts came off in 3-5 pieces. A total time consuming PITA.
If those bolts are in that bad of shape, you are not going to save those bolts anyway, and you won't find them at any autoparts store or dealership. You'll have to find grade 8 (standard) or grade 10.5 (metric) replacements. Typically, your neighborhood hardware store or tractor supply store will carry these. Get them a little longer and use hardened washers as spacers, then use nylon insert lock nuts. Don't bother with the home improvement warehouses. Home Depot, Lowes, etc. will carry the right size, but they are not the hardened ones used for automotive use, but for wood projects. Yes, you MUST use the hardened fasteners.
If your car has seen any winters or salt, you might as well just get yourself a rotary cutter with lots of extra cutting wheels. Hardened bolts will chew up cutting wheels quickly. Buy, beg, borrow, or rent one.
Good luck with the project.
If those bolts are in that bad of shape, you are not going to save those bolts anyway, and you won't find them at any autoparts store or dealership. You'll have to find grade 8 (standard) or grade 10.5 (metric) replacements. Typically, your neighborhood hardware store or tractor supply store will carry these. Get them a little longer and use hardened washers as spacers, then use nylon insert lock nuts. Don't bother with the home improvement warehouses. Home Depot, Lowes, etc. will carry the right size, but they are not the hardened ones used for automotive use, but for wood projects. Yes, you MUST use the hardened fasteners.
If your car has seen any winters or salt, you might as well just get yourself a rotary cutter with lots of extra cutting wheels. Hardened bolts will chew up cutting wheels quickly. Buy, beg, borrow, or rent one.
Good luck with the project.
autoXr1 was dead on! i had the exact same problem when i changed my rear lower control arms a couple months ago. but i found a good way around this that worked rather well. im not saying it will work everytime but it did work for me.
ok here goes, what you want to do is break loose the rusted bolts from within the bushing. to do this you will want to put the nut back on and tighten it REALLY good. this way theres a clamping force on the metal sleeve itself. then you want to break loose the bolt using the actual head of the bolt on the other side. doing this will be no easy task but i used a breaker bar and a jack underneath it and jacked up the bar and that seemed to work pretty good.
and thats pretty much it. sounds simple and it pretty much is. goodluck!!!
ok here goes, what you want to do is break loose the rusted bolts from within the bushing. to do this you will want to put the nut back on and tighten it REALLY good. this way theres a clamping force on the metal sleeve itself. then you want to break loose the bolt using the actual head of the bolt on the other side. doing this will be no easy task but i used a breaker bar and a jack underneath it and jacked up the bar and that seemed to work pretty good.
and thats pretty much it. sounds simple and it pretty much is. goodluck!!!
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