Removal of Control Arm/Bushing

[packrat79]

Got this badly rusted '89 Civic I'm trying to restore, it's a hard first project but the car is of sentimental value, so it's worth it to me. The real problem I'm running into is actually pretty simple - seized nuts and bolts. Some of the nuts and bolts on this thing are seized beyond belief. The worst offenders so far have been the four spindle nuts - a 250 ft/lb impact wrench was unable to budge them. So my plan was to just remove the entire rear suspension, which I have to anyway since all the bushings are shot, and then take it to someone with equipment capable of removing those spindle nuts. I've been able to free most of the seized bolts, but there are two which refuse to give and have brought this project to a standstill. Please see the attached photo to see just what I'm talking about. These bolts go through a small bushing and wind directly into the car chassis. I was able to wind them out of the chassis, but the bolts are absolutely, hopelessly seized with the bushings. I tried clamping onto the bushings with a vise-grip while turning the bolt, but the vise-grip just can't hold on. So I figured I might as well cut the bushing since it was bad anyway, and tried to cut it with a jigsaw. The jigsaw blade goes through the bushing just fine, but it can't cut through the bolt itself - the steel is simply too hard.
I also considered a circular saw with a cutting wheel, but there's no way to get it into this confined space.
Please give me some advice on what to do (other than hauling the car to the junkyard, which is what most people would do). I don't want two miserable little bolts ruin this entire project.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...9/hondaarm.jpg

[pbrizzle86]

well there are a few options here, first i would break out the tourch and heat it up they will come out like butter then, second you could get a sawsall and a metal blade and cut it, or you could get rid of that baby impact and get a real one. my cordless 3/8ths snap on impact almmost puts out the same as your gun. heat is your best bet i would say, just becarefull around the gas tank of course,but its really not that hard if your smart about it. if you cut it, you will still have to deal with getting the other part of the bolt out of the threads witch you would need a set of extractors for. Paul

[Christ]

Sawzall FTW.. w/ a 4" bi-metal blade. Be careful not to let the blade contact the body, it will cut the sheet metal like butter.

Another thing you can do is since you have it unthreaded already, just cut the head off the bolt... then fool around with it a bit to get it out in a twistie motion. I've personally done that before, because I couldn't get into the shaft of the bolt to cut it.

If you use a torch, you can actually cut the head off by blasting straight at it, into the top of the bolt head.. once that part comes off, that will also melt it a bit down into the shaft area, and might make it easier.

For the sake of your sanity, don't use a demo torch for this... use a small tip that only concentrates on a small area. blow the bolt out from the center in a circular motion, that will take care of the bolt without "taking care of" the mount.

[packrat79]

I should have figured there was an easy solution... my lack of experience must be obvious. I hadn't tried heat on this bolt yet, so I tried heating it with a simple propane torch. The first attempt didn't work, but on the second attempt the bolt finally gave way and I was able to wind it completely out. I'm glad I got it off without damaging anything else - there's already enough wrong with this old heap!
Thanks for the advice.... I'm sure it won't be the last I'll be needing.