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Bolt siezed to bushing sleeve.


rwd5021
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I decided to try replacing the bushings on the rear control arms of my r50 with polyurethane that goes in a caulk gun. I soaked all the bolts with pblaster for a couple days. Started with the pass. side lower, that wasn't too bad. I cleaned what I could and filled in the gap, easy. Put that back on and start to remove the driver side lower, and it's obvious that's the side causing the death wobble. The front isn't too bad and I got it off, but the rear bushing is completely blown. The bolt is siezed to the bushing sleeve. I got the nut off but the bolt still won't come out. At first it wouldn't even spin with a breaker bar. So I'm buying another couple metal blades for my sawzall today to get the control arm off the truck, but the bolt will still be stuck in the bushing sleeve. Any ideas on how to remove it? My dad just gave me a drill, would that be any help? Any ideas will be much appreciated.

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You could either use the drill with an appropriate size bit to drill out the bolt, then continue with removing the bushing, or because you need you replace the bushing anyway, get a hole saw just smaller than the sleeve in the control arm and drill the whole bushing out bolt and all. This will save you the trouble of getting the bushing out after as it'll likely be tough.

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Ok, you have the nut off, but the bolt won't spin with about 150-200ft/lbs of torque on it? Have you tried striking it a few times with a hand sledge from the nut side to break it loose or drive it out? At this point, assume you will need a new bolt so proceed with destructive methods. If striking doesn't work, I'd drill through the bolt head side about 3/4 the minor diameter of the thread, but be careful to drill on center. Once you drill 1/2 an inch, try the hammer again. If it doesn't budge, repeat steps...

 

B

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The bolt was somewhat siezed to the bracket so it wouldn't move, at first. Banging on it didn't help at all, so I put my jack under the breaker bar handle and broke that free, only to see the bushing sleeve start spinning with it. Part of the bushing spins with it and some stays still.

I started trying destructive methods yesterday, repeatedly banging it with a hammer and then the sawzall. I got through the bolt once, but the one blade I had was dull before I could finish cutting the head side of the bolt, so I had to stop. Then I got stuck at work late today, so no progress, but I'll be getting new bolts and sawzall blades on Friday so I can finish this weekend. Should I get any special drill bit to go through the bolt?

 

I don't have a grinder, but just grinding the ends off and getting new bolts won't solve the problem because I need the bushing sleeve, and no bolt in it.

 

And I'm trying to avoid buying bushings or control arms, because I'm cheap. If I can't drill out the bolt correctly, new arms will be my last resort.

 

But for now I guess I'll plan on

1 finish cutting the head off the bolt

2 wiggle the control arm out of the bracket

3 drill/scrape out as much bushing rubber as possible

4 place bushing sleeve in vise

5 drill out the bolt

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Should I get any special drill bit to go through the bolt?

 

If you are going through sawsall blades, it sounds like it might be a hardened/high grade bolt (makes sense) so if you can get them, I recommend 135 degree split point cobalt drills...

 

B

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  • 10 months later...

What a great idea! I'm right in the middle of this and I used this to get my rear lower bolt off. Worked like a charm. I even used my 1/2 ratchet (yes I know, bad but it is a really cheap 1/2 ratchet) so I could jack it up and then let it down then jack it back up untill it was all loose. This is after 1/2 hour of airtools and PB blaster and Propane torch. I'm not sure the geometry will let this work on the passenger side...

 

The bolt was somewhat siezed to the bracket so it wouldn't move, at first. Banging on it didn't help at all, so I put my jack under the breaker bar handle and broke that free...
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