Shackle bolt stuck in frame

[explorer1995]

DAM! i was looking at those and almost bought one, but second guessed myself and thought that the sawzall would have been a better pick.

 

[explorer1995]

any specific cutting wheel?

 

[budwich]

just "standard" metal cut off discs... flat not cupped.. $3 each, right angle (chinese) $20, problem solved priceless.

Of course, the standard word of caution... although you are well away from your tank, there will be metal sparks during the process, make sure you don't have a leak any where (gas free odor). The Grinder is my favorite tool as I can't afford a cutting torch... I also use the little air driven disc grinder which is great for small places. Anyways, good luck.

 

[explorer1995]

Sweet! thank you, I will attack that thursday, maybe tomorrow if i m lucky!

 

[BubbaFL]

Ditto on the angle grinder - you'll need it anyway to cut the center bolts if you're going to take the spring pack apart.

Don't forget to get some safety goggles and gloves while you're at HF!

 

[Ranger379]

i bought their sawzall also...the cheapo blades they sell are just that.... keep the sawzall. just buy some better name brand blades. an angle grinder would work. i bought a bunch of HF cut off wheels. they work fine. you just go thru them faster... good luck

 

[explorer1995]

The angle grinders are going on sale friday for 10 bucks for a 4.5 inch one, so I may go return the sawzall and get that instead. I ve got the goggles and matco gloves already so I am set on that.

the blades did look super cheap when i pulled it out of the box. what can you expect for 30 bucks hahaha

 

[budwich]

The "neat" thing about a grinder is that as you cut thru the bolt head, you heat up the bolt and thus it is likely that any "rusting hold" or equivalent will likely "break" and the bolt will remove a lot easier thereafter.

They are handy... for instance, you may have rounded a bolt head but cutting it off would leave you with a "embedded stud". Instead of cutting the bolt, "neatly" "square" the head with the grinder and use an "open wrench" or such to grab the "nice/new" squared surface and "away you go".... that might be an option here as I am not sure what shape your bolt is in.

 

[explorer1995]

The bolt head is in ok shape, i can still get a socket on it, i tried to break it loose by using a breaker bar but it will only spin a quarter turn or so then it stops. the nut is already off just cant get the bolt out of the bushing or the metal sleeve figured if i cut the head off i could use a ball joint press to press it through.

 

[explorer1995]

to keep everyone updated, i wanted to thank all of you for giving some advice. I went and returned the sawzall and bought a angle grinder with some 4.5 inch cutting wheels. The angle grinder was on sale for 10 bucks. Went home and i cut the bolt head off in literally 3 minutes and then pressed the bolt and sleeve out of the bushing, hammered the new sleeve in the bushing, of course i put alot of anti seize on everything. the mono leaf was very easy to pull down to get the bottom bolt in the shackle.

thanx again!

 

[windsors03cobra]

Amazing you can get an angle grinder for ten dollars.

Good job.

 

[sport97]

I'm frightened this will happen to me when I go to do my new leaf springs and shackles. Where did you get the new sleeve for the bolt? Did it come with the new bushing?

 

[explorer1995]

yeah the metal sleeve came with the shackle and so did the bolts. i got mine from advance auto parts.

 

[explorer1995]

the rubber bushing did not come with the shackle i got the bolts, the bolt sleeves with the shackle.

 

[yeah61794]

Awesome you got it out, burning it out does work, I just replaced the shackles on my 93 and thats what I had to do. PITA but it worked, I had new bushings on hand just in case. I found the bushings for it on ebay if anyone was wondering. They came in a kit to do the entire leaf spring shackle set up.

 

[explorer1995]

that's always good to know thank u. I was lucky enough that i didnt have to destroy the rubber bushing. I put alot of anti seize so when i do have some mula for the lift shackles i will be abit easier to do and alot quicker. Once i figured out that a angle grinder would be the best tool for the job, it took me may 25 min at the most. live and learn