kingw323

Doing a suspension/steering overhaul...LCAs, sway bar bushings, end links, inner/outer tie rod ends, cv axles, struts. I got the driver's side done with no major problems. Inner tie rod ends sucked. Almost done with passenger side when I noticed the rear bushing clamp bolts were a little tough to get out and were somewhat rusted/stripped feeling. Crossed my fingers while installing new LCA but sure enough could not get them all tightened back...one in particular. Not sure if it is just the bolt threads or the female threads as well (hopefully I didn't do more damage trying to force it in. Not too experienced on tapping/re-threading. Had the shop ready for an alignment in the morning but now that is on hold. Need to get my max back on the road. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

so its one of the rear swaybar bushing clamp bolts that is stripped and you cant get it out now? heat it up with a torch and use vise grips to try and turn it out of thats the case. if the bolt is not in there and the threads are just mangled, just get a tap and clean up the threads. tap you just slowly thread one turn, back off half a turn, repeat until all the threads are cleaned up. then get another bolt from a junkyard car or whatever

metalgod3082

Can you clarify what "rear bushing clamp bolts" are? Sounds like it may be for the control arm bolts towards the rear on that plate that covers the U-shape bushing on the control arm? Do you have a thread restoring file to try to clean up the bolt a little? Or a large nut that matches the bolt you can see if it threads on ok to see if it is teh bolt or the female threads? You can check and see if autozone has a thread restoring kit for rent or get one from sears and see if that can clean them up so you may not need to retap the hole.

kingw323

Thanks for the responses. Yes the bolt is off of the car. Gonna try to grab some bolts from a junk yard today. Local autozone has a thread restorer loaner kit although I have never used one. Would that just clean up the male and female threads or would it actually make new threads. Like I said, I'm not too familiar with tapping. What size tap would I need? Thanks again.

kingw323

I have three new M14 / 1.5 bolts and a tap coming in the morning. Hopefully I can clean out the threads and be done with it.

chrome91

iTrader: (1)

the tap cleans up the existing threads, doesnt make new threads