smash

i'm actully pretty pissed and SHOCKED at this.

yesterday i go to do my driver side arm. I did the pass side about a month ago. No problems at all.

Pop off the ball joint nut and broke it free. Did the 3 rear ones with the tray. My IR impact made short work of that. I get to the one with the silver pin. I did the middle first and then the rear half way. So now only one left is front.

WTF it does budge at all. I'm shocked because the other 5 bolts came off without much effort via impact. So i opted to fully charge up my 20 gal compressor AND then have at it something. Will not move, PB blaster and waited and still nothing! I even took out the breaker bar. This single bolt made me put everything back together and i'm extremely pissed right now but have NO idea what to do.

Pass side didn't give me any issues. So why is this one fighting me. I think if i keep at it, i might round off the bolt or my socket.

My impact isn't weak as i can take off crank pulleys in about 5 seconds, i had my impact on that control arm bolt for 30 seconds before my arm got tired.

M in KC

Keep soaking it with PB Blaster for a week or so and hit it again with you impact gun. You might try and hit it with the impact gun to tighten it first and then loosen it to break all the rust and corrosion free. Heat is your next option. Last resort is a length of pipe on your breaker bar but one thing is for sure there it will either break or come loose.

smash

i was doing the tighten and loosen thing with the impact doesn;t move either way.

When i saw my breaker bar start to bend, it was time to stop that.

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

lol wow thats a stubborn bolt. YOur going to have to heat it up really really good and then go at it with the impact. Some bolts just need some heat over PB

MAXIMA_STYLE

iTrader: (21)

I snapped off one of mine ibtentionally before... had no choice...either put car together unfinished... or snap it and finish the job..so go with sone heat and pb....or sone deep creep

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

Ive never seen a bolt that heat and blaster cant move. Either that or it breaks. Order yourself a new bolt and go into the job telling yourself "its coming off either way" lol and it will go. When I say heat I mean a torch and heating it up until its red not just warming it up

KidA157

iTrader: (1)

I just did both my LCA's this weekend and ran into the same problem. I also have the IR impact and it would not budge even at full power.

Take a hammer (didn't even need the 5lb sledge) and just hit the head of the bolt a few times. After a few good hits on it, the gun took it right out.

The tops of those bolts in my car were covered in what appeared to be the factories version of loctite. Once I got that broken free with the hammer, the bolt came right out.

smash

You hit the head flat on? Like if that was a nail?


Right now i'm just going to drive it around, spray it a little and repeat for a couple week. Its way too hot to be working on it.

GGENIUS

iTrader: (1)

when all else fails, heat heat heat! a torch will probably let your impact make quick work of that bolt just like the rest.

GGENIUS

iTrader: (1)

you could do yourself a favor and order another bolt anyway though. because when youre heating bolts up that are old as **** to that degree, the threads can get all boogered up.

Phromethius

I'm scared now. I need to do my drivers side control arm soon too. I am feeling sway. I know my bushing is probably shot to hell. I don't want to spend labor on another one

smash

^its not much work at all to DIY. I just hit a wall with ONE single bolt. Everything was off and loosen.

Your in TX, you should have no problems with rust. I would love to work on a TX car.

KidA157

iTrader: (1)

Yep, just straight on with a regular hammer. Probably hit 3-5 times and then put the gun back on it and it came right out. Not too much effort for a car of its age and always living in the northeast for 180K miles