86 G Body rear control arm upper, how to remove frozen bolts?

3975 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by bubbahotep, Jun 25, 2012

bubbahotep

Discussion Starter · Jun 17, 2012

Happy fathers day. My day has been a fail. lol

86 monte ss, rear upper control arm: I can easily reach the head of the bolt that is on the body side (not the rear end differential) of the control arm and was able to heat the nut of the other side which enabled me some rotation on the bolt with an air gun. However, after hours, I was never able to get the nut to free from the bolt. Totally impossible.

Are there any tools to just cut off the head of the bolt? I have a nut splitter but it cant reach the nut. I tried drilling the head of the bolt but its grade 10 and I think I barely saw a scratch. lol. Heating the nut with a torch is not accurate and seems to heat the bolt so they both sometimes lock together.

Possibly remove the rear springs and grind the head off? Would an air chisel be able to bang off the head of the bolt?

Im not a mechanic and this is all being done in my home garage. A plasma cutter is not happening.

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LATECH

· #2 · Jun 18, 2012

Use a cutoff saw.Or you can use a regualer grinder and grind the head off.
Cutoff saws are quicker but either one is a pretty basic approach to solving the issue.
Try to keep in mind where the fuel tank is and keep sparks from flying in that direction, if possible.If needed, wet some rags and pack them in the work area around the tank, so sparks dont get near the tank.Cant be to careful around gas, with stray fumes and all. Keep a fire exstinguisher handy.
Not trying to scare the hell out of you, just trying to keep you safe, and if necessary ...prepared.
One alternative would be to heat the bolt with an inductive heater, if you can rent one as buying one will set you back 6-700 bucks.

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price

· #3 · Jun 22, 2012

nut

I have removed a lot of seized up bolts and with an acetelyne torch there is not a nut made on this planet that will not come free. Forget the stuff about both the nut and the bolt getting hot. Heat the nut to cherry red and twist it off with the impact. If the impact won't do it get a bigger impact .If that dosent do get more air. At the very least the bolt wll shear off and problem solved. :welcome:

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cobalt327

· #4 · Jun 23, 2012

bubbahotep said:
Happy fathers day. My day has been a fail. lol

86 monte ss, rear upper control arm: I can easily reach the head of the bolt that is on the body side (not the rear end differential) of the control arm and was able to heat the nut of the other side which enabled me some rotation on the bolt with an air gun. However, after hours, I was never able to get the nut to free from the bolt. Totally impossible.

Are there any tools to just cut off the head of the bolt? I have a nut splitter but it cant reach the nut. I tried drilling the head of the bolt but its grade 10 and I think I barely saw a scratch. lol. Heating the nut with a torch is not accurate and seems to heat the bolt so they both sometimes lock together.

Possibly remove the rear springs and grind the head off? Would an air chisel be able to bang off the head of the bolt?

Im not a mechanic and this is all being done in my home garage. A plasma cutter is not happening.

Something here will work. IIRC those nuts are lock nuts. I'd use PB Blaster after heating, then an impact wrench.

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bubbahotep

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 25, 2012

Great info from all. I wasnt aware they were lock nuts (egg shaped at one side). I used lots o heat and a grinder as recommended. The bolts had lost at least 1/8" of thickness from wear anyway so they were shot. The head ground off like butter, surprisingly.

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