Well, basically, I noticed I've been getting some squeaking from my control arms after I hit a huge bump with my LTB. When I put the car on the ramps and tried to put the socket over one of the nuts (which has gotten loose, and needs to be tightened) the socket simply did not fit into that cup-shaped spot where the nut sits. (see pics below) The "cup" is bent so much that I can not even force the socket in with the hammer. I also tried bending the walls of the cup outwards with a chisel (hitting it with a hammer) but that still doesn't seem to work.

Did anyone have anything like this before? Any ideas what else I can do to get to that damn nut?


Notice that it now looks more like an egg than a perfect circle.



Thanks in advance!

 

File/dremel some metal away so the socket can fit?

 

Hm not a bad idea, I would rother not dremel anything as I was hoping to continue using the bar, and dremeling in that area will most likely make it much less rigid, but if that's the only thing that can be done than be it.

Well, let's see if anyone comes up with some other idea first, if not, I'll try dremeling some of that metal away tomorrow morning.

 

My thoughts exactly... Only thing to do is grind down some of the LTB around the socket. As long as you do it along the inner side, I don't see any problems with weakening the LTB itself. You may also try taking a thin, flat, strong piece of metal and using that to "hammer" the LTB around the socket back into shape.

 

get a thin-wall socket......

 

just got off work.. gotta get home so a friend can tow his car to me... will reply later tonight with some solutions.

 

Sorry for the late response.

you might have to take the bar off from the other 3 points and then use it to work the thing around and see if you can't open it up a little bit.

other thing to do is that once you get the other 3 bolts loose, you can maybe shove the socket in there with the rest of the bar moving around.

give those a shot and see what happens. that's all I can think of without resorting to a sawzall and doing some major repair/rework of the bar.

If it comes down to that, take a sawzall and cut off the 3/4" tube as close to the control arm as possible. you can at least get the bar off at that point. send it to me and I'll weld a new end on for you for a few bucks. it won't be the prettiest repair ever, but you'll at least be able to get the bar off and get your car moving again.

 

You can't jam something in there and unbolt it from the other side?

If not, then slice a few cuts in the tube and peel the sides away just a smiggen'.

 

Thanks for replies guys! I'm about to try all that stuff out. Will post the results some time tomorrow.


You are actually just on time. It was raining all week, so I couldn't do anything. I was also busy working on the long a** paper that I owe since the spring semester.

 

I have the same problem on my se-r with a stillen brace. All I do is get a wide flat head screw driver and shove it in one of the sides. Then I can torque/remove the nut behind the control arm.

 

Ok the bar is finally off the car!!

After trying what you guys have recommend for some time, I decided that there's no way I will be able to get that socket in there. (and I couldn't find a thin-wall socket of that size in the local parts stores) So what I did, I took a chisel and a hammer at started hitting the nut itself, and in about fifteen minutes it actually started to move! Another half of an hour later the bar was off the car.