92 Expo Radius arm removal (not bushings )

[gforceman]

well must be a he-man cuz i snaped off the radius nut on the drivers side, i ordered the new radius arm but how do i remove the large bolt going through the beam that the coil is bolted to, so i can replace the radius arm, it doesnt wanna budge is it supposed to fall out or is the hole threaded . is there a procedure how to ? thx

 

[little x]

I assume that you have already unbolted the coil spring. There is a stud on the top and a bolt on the bottom. Just use a bunch of PB blaster and a big breaker bar, it's a SOB. Both top and bottom holes are threaded, so no nuts to worry about. Then both the radius arm and sway bar mount will be disconnected.

 

[fordnut71]

there isnt 1 long bolt its a few smaler studs. you have to remove the spring an spring pocket, the sway bar bracket on the beam.
when i broke mine it took me close to 2 hours to remove everything. i used the heat it up with a propane torch an cold water to cool it off again. did that to remove the rust on the bolts.once i was happy with the amout of rust removed i used a pb an just took my time removing them. btw you will prob be needing 1"an 1 1/8" deep sockets an wreanches

 

[gforceman]

the top is a stud? the bottom is a bolt ? how would i get the top stud out the bottom has a head . i dont think it would be a good idea to heat it the beam states do not heat , or the bolt will soften and snap

 

[little x]

Here is the top stud from the inside:

Here it is out:

Here is the bottom bolt from the inside:

I don't have a pic of it out.
They are 2 separate pieces. With the arm threaded.

 

[fordnut71]

it dont say on the ttb not to heat them . also you are only heating up the bolt with propane torch witch isnt getting it blood red also you cool it off with water to shake the rust off. once they cold an have been soaking in pb for a few min they will come out.

 

[gforceman]

haa gotcha i forgot to mention that i have a 2WD so i dont have an axel tube , is the bolt 1 peice in the 2wd version ??????????

 

[fordnut71]

on the 2wd its 1 long bolt. good luck with getting that 1 to move, you just might have to use the propane to move it.

 

[gforceman]

wont that soften the bolt head ? thats what happened to the bolt at the end of the radius arm after heating it snapped off , i did screw to bolts together on the top half of the bolt it does flex and move but i dont wanna snap it ,ill put a pipe wrench on the head with a pipe and work it that way been soaking it for 2 days now .

 

[little x]

You could use the propane (or map gas) and heat the area right around the bolt. Heat expands things, so the hole the bolt is threaded into will get bigger. Not by much, these gases won't get things red hot by any means. But, try it if the big pipe doesn't work.

 

[gforceman]

well i tryed the pipe method and heat and brute force i still cant break this coil spring bolt free to remove the radius arm ,is this bolt threaded into the i-beam ? pounding it from the top wont work if it is , the top half seems to be free its the bottom half that stuck and i know its not threaded there, i need this repaired asap. any help would be appreciated .....

i guess i need to heat the living crap outta the bolt ..

 

[fordnut71]

you need to heat the beam along the lenth of the bolt front an back side then use cold water in a squart bottle to cool it off. it may take 2 time to do it that way or 10 times or more its all trial an error till it moves . also you can use wd 40 when it starts to cool off to help losen it up .

 

[gforceman]

WILL DO !! the bolt is exposed on the back side of the beam it only goes through the beam on the top and bottom the rest is exposed so i guess it would be easyer

 

[gforceman]

THANKS GUYS !!!!! i got it out WHAT a PITA a little heat and PB blaster DID the trick !!!!!!

 

[little x]

I hate bolts like that, glad you finally got it to budge.

 

[fordnut71]

good to hear