Hey all, seeing if anyone has advice or experience with an upper control arm bolt being rusted/stuck/frozen inside of the control arm bushing. I have the driver side bolt toward the front of the vehicle stuck so that the whole bushing spins with the bolt, I’ve tried heat, bp blaster, everything, the only option I can see is to start cutting out the control arm, I really don’t want to have to do it this way, wondering if anyone has any tricks that might work. Thanks
Upper control arm bolt stuck/frozen (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter LC CT
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What's your goal in terms of replacement? Are you doing just new bushings or new UCA all together?
Put some brake fluid in a spray bottle and soak it, let it sit for a few hours. I've used brake fluid on really seized stuff and it works.
- Thread starter
- #5
Doing whole new UCAs with bushing and ball joint, got a set off an 06, the bolt just spins with the bushing inside, driving me crazy.
nukegoat
Should have bought a Jeep
Can you get a sawzall in between the bushing and the bracket? You'll have to cut through the bolt on both sides and you may mess up the internal bushing sleeve, but it sounds like it's destroyed anyway. Then you can remove the link...
- Thread starter
- #7
I was looking at this and I’m not 100% sure I can get the sawzall in there, I was messing with it a few weeks ago and ended up putting it back together annoyed. I remember for some reason thinking that wouldn’t work. Hopefully I was just tired when I was looking at it.
I’m having this same issue with my 2000 LC. I have been dealing with a loud clunking noise from the front passenger tire every time I hit a pot hole or speed bump so I thought it was time to refresh some of the apparently OEM suspension components. (Purchased this rig about 4 months ago from a used car lot who had no service history other than what was on the CarFax, which was clean.) Started with new KYB shocks which went on easily enough but now I’m fighting getting the bolts that hold the UCA to the frame off. The outer 19mm nut came off without too much trouble but the specialized bolts (camber adjustment?) seem to be frozen on both sides.
I’ve soaked both nuts in PB Blaster several times and for several hours, still no love. I’m not sure what the diameter of that camber nut is but it’s larger than I have a box wrench or socket for, so I’m guessing it something like a 27mm. I’ve got a good bite on it with an adjustable wrench but I just can’t get enough leverage with that wrench and a 22mm socket on the bolt head. I’ve noticed that the bolt itself has a lengthwise notches at the end so now I’m wondering if there’s some sort of weird locking mechanism that it meant to keep that camber bolt from spinning. Any ideas?
Photos below are of the driver’s side UCA. I haven’t started on the passengers side where the clunking sound is coming from yet.
How did you end up getting it out/cutting it? Having the same problem. Thanks
