Can't Remove Control Arm Bolt

[donalds]

If you do need or decide to buy cam bolts don't throw away the old factory ones
Or let the alignment guy throw them away eather

Save em you will never need them ditch em the f##$in wheels will fall off

 

[Craigerz]

Now, as far as the bolt is concerned. do it the right way and it will be out before you can dig out the sawzall.

My sawzall is at the ready at all times....

I don’t see a problem cutting them if you’re putting the new bolt kit in either. Just me.

And... I would like to see a how too video posted of how you “remove” the bolt... I’m betting ya’ll old dudes have a bet to see how long you can keep someone under the fender before they quit twisting and wiggling it just right.

First how to video wins. A beer. From me. If you drive to Texas.

 

[donalds]

It's not that bad did this job last week took maybe 2mins to get them out I pulled them out enough to set them on the frame rail installed new arm I marked the cam to frame with a white paint marker

 

[Mr. Alligator]

Tedious work, and you really have to keep believing it is mechanically possible.

 

[Turdle]

My sawzall is at the ready at all times....

I don’t see a problem cutting them if you’re putting the new bolt kit in either. Just me.

And... I would like to see a how too video posted of how you “remove” the bolt... I’m betting ya’ll old dudes have a bet to see how long you can keep someone under the fender before they quit twisting and wiggling it just right.

First how to video wins. A beer. From me. If you drive to Texas.

One beer? I have to mess up my alignment, shoot a video with dirty hands and drive to Texas for it?

OK, I guess. Hang on.

 

[J_C]

Is that bolt going to be harder to get out if it's rusted? Some of us have a lot more of that than others.

 

[donalds]

Wd 40 it an go for it

 

[Turdle]

PB blaster is better for penetrating and dissolving rust. Wd-40 will work ok, but it is intended as a water displacement and or cleaner to be honest. Using it as a lubricant is not good practice, but it will clean bearing surfaces and electrical contacts real well.

Better yet is 50-50 mix of acetone ( steal some fingernail polish remover from missus or GF) and trans fluid. It works about 3 times as good as PB blaster.

 

[donalds]

Yea the alcohol and trans fluid mix an old old guy who is dead now taught me that
Works extremely well

Wd 40 first thing that came to mind
Wd will work fine most people have it on hand
If you have pb blaster deff use it
If you got Wd use it

I wouldn't go buy pb just for this project but if you do this kind of work all the time then hell yea but it
But the trans fluid method is the best I have used that method to free exhaust manifold to downpipe bolts

 

[koda2000]

Is that bolt going to be harder to get out if it's rusted? Some of us have a lot more of that than others.

I don't believe it should be harder to remove if things are a bit rusty. On the rustiest truck I replaced UCA's/ball joints on (our '00 Mountaineer AWD) it wasn't any more difficult than on my GA rust-free trucks. The AWD/4WD's have more stuff you have to get out of the way, but the UCA procedure is the same.

 

[J_C]

^ On my passenger side upper I had to clean out the top of the knuckle for 10 minutes and still ended up using a chisel to expand the slot in the back just to get the BJ stud beaten in. Granted if I had the right shape wire bristle attachment thingy for a drill, it might have taken less time. Doing it over I might grab a torch to heat it up, but I didn't really want heat transmitted up the BJ stud and melting the grease.

Penetrants, I have a few of those. They seem to help but often the fastener shears. What I really need is a time machine to go back a dozen or more years and coat every fastener in fluid film. Surprizingly when I did my BJ's, the axle nut was the easiest to get off, had almost no corrosion at all.

 

[koda2000]

^ On my passenger side upper I had to clean out the top of the knuckle for 10 minutes and still ended up using a chisel to expand the slot in the back just to get the BJ stud beaten in. Granted if I had the right shape wire bristle attachment thingy for a drill, it might have taken less time. Doing it over I might grab a torch to heat it up, but I didn't really want heat transmitted up the BJ stud and melting the grease.

Penetrants, I have a few of those. They seem to help but often the fastener shears. What I really need is a time machine to go back a dozen or more years and coat every fastener in fluid film. Surprizingly when I did my BJ's, the axle nut was the easiest to get off, had almost no corrosion at all.

It's not unusual to need to expand the slot in the knuckle (a chisle works well) to get the UCA ball joint out of the knuckle. It's been in there a long time and water and dirt work their magic on the iron knuckle. During installation getting the angle just right on the upper BJ can be a little challenging too, due to the stiffness of the new BJ's ball. It might be easier if you installed the upper BJ into the knuckle before installing the lower into the knuckle, but I don't believe I've ever tried it that way.

 

[BTR]

I did this repair a few days ago. To get the driver's side UCA rear bolt out, several steps are required.

1. First, remove the driver's side UCA front bolt. This will allow you to more-freely move the front and rear of the UCA around in order to get the rear bolt out.
2. Second, remove the nut and adjustment plate from the threaded end of the rear bolt. This will allow the threaded end of the bolt to be moved around.
3. Third, pull the rear bolt out until it hits the hard lines. Rotate and jiggle the bolt until it comes out as far as possible.
4. Using a 5-pound hammer and/or small pry bar, move the rear of the UCA away from the engine. At the same time, move the head of the bolt toward the engine. You want to get the bolt angled such that the head is toward the engine and the threads are away from the engine. To facilitate this, you can also move the front of the UCA toward the engine.
5. Now that you have the bolt head toward the engine and the bolt threads away from the engine, push the hard lines down and away from the engine. This will allow you to wiggle the bolt such that the head of the bolt moves past the hard lines (the head of the bolt will pass between the hard lines and the engine).
6. You'll get to the point at which the very tip of the threaded end of the bolt is still in the bracket hole (the bracket welded to the frame), but is no longer in the hole in the UCA. At this point, you can remove the UCA. The bolt will still be lodged in place at an angle, but this doesn't matter, i.e., you don't need to completely remove the bolt; you simply need to move the bolt enough to allow for the removal of the UCA.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

I must be the only one who doesn't have an issue with this bolt, I generally get it loose and ready to slide out, slide the arm in, rotate and out it comes? Am I just gifted at this?