Tips & Tricks - Control Arm Bolt

[Nacho]

Ok so finally found time to replace the tranny on the red FTO but to pull the shaft out in the past I've let the control arm loose so I can pull the hub back enough to pull out the shaft without undoing the ball joint on the control arm.

Hit a bit of a snag though........this is the first time I haven't been able to remove this mothereffing bolt from the control arm. (I stole Ben's pic from the suspension thread) The bolt just won't slide out........except this one's on the passenger side so there's little clearance between the AT sump and the thread side of the bolt so hammering it out solidly is not an option.

Any outside of the box mechanic tricks you guys can suggest to budge this thing out?

I'll have a play this weekend to jack up the strut to see if it's being held on by a load but the bolt on the other side slid out perfectly easy.

[destinationtoby]

Is there pressure on the other end of the control arm? Like, is it hanging down hard?

[Nacho]

Loosened the two bolts holding the bracket and the other bush but haven't removed fully yet. I might undo that this weekend and wiggle from that side and see what happens

[Bennoz]

Is there enough room (and surfaces to use) to slide a scissor jack up in there lowered flat & wind it open? I love using the scissor jack to pry things apart & pop bolts \o/ Good for lining up engine mounts & so forth.

[Nacho]

Sadly no. There's probably only a 2 inch gap between the end of the bolt and the tranny sump. Are there tools you know of that are a smaller version of the scissor jack that I can wedge in there?

[shadowarrior]

A water pump pliers? wedge it in and open the mouth so it pushes things up to align them enough which lets you get the bolt out? May be have a small piece of wood between the car part and the pliers to increase the area and distribute the force of pushing it up? Am not sure if the manual force would be enough though but worth a try I guess?

[silverGPX]

Drop the subframe?

[vanadinite]

This bolt issue sounds like the ones we had on Thomas and your car Matt. Unfortunately the only way we got around it was blunt force and I think Matt ended up cutting a trailing arm in half cause even blunt force didn't work

[vanadinite]

Grind the heads off of the bolts. And get new bolts

[silverGPX]

Yeah i bought a reciprocating saw and cut the c**t out lol

[Nacho]

Ok gave it a fair crack this weekend. Loosened the other bolts on the control arm held by the bracket it and let it hang loose. Tried hammering it with the arm jacked up a different heights. Dad was hammering away while I turned the bolt freely with a screwdriver wedged between the bolt heat trying to pry out and still no luck.

I'm a bit worried that stripping off the head or the thread sticking out coz it might make the situation worse in case the through bolt just happens to be gripping somewhere in that hollow metal cylinder. I suppose it might make it easier hammering at the bolt on the other side away from the transmission.

Thoughts on using heat (blowtorch)? I'm worried I'll roast my polyurethane bush in the process.

[silverGPX]

Reciprocating saw

[Nacho]

Quick update for driveshaft removal.

Didn't bother undoing the bolt in the end........turns out undoing the tie rod end and unmounting brake assembly from the strut swings the brake hub far enough to be able to remove the driveshaft.

[Chebus]

Quick update for driveshaft removal.

Didn't bother undoing the bolt in the end........turns out undoing the tie rod end and unmounting brake assembly from the strut swings the brake hub far enough to be able to remove the driveshaft.

do you mean the inner CV pops out of the cup?

[Nacho]

Nah I was talking about sliding the other end of the b@stard out of the wheel hub without undoing any of the ball joints

[Chebus]

Nah I was talking about sliding the other end of the b@stard out of the wheel hub without undoing any of the ball joints

Oh, as you were then.