control arm bolt stuck

dan weis

dan weis

Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2017
Messages
42
Location
Cincinnati, OH, United States
hello my fellow jeep peeps. so i decided to buy this 4 inch lift for my 2004 wrangler. i have alot of mechanical experience but not on 4x4s or wranglers for that matter. i thought this would be a quick and easy job but was i wrong. so far i have shattered one torx, and have went through 4 cans of pb blaster and had to cut the sway bar links and the shocks off. anyways my problem are these front lower control arms. the rear bolt came out fine but the front i could only get loose from the nut side. is there a special trick to getting these out or could it just be stuck? thanks in advance i appreciate any and all comments
 
Impact wrench, and a torch with MAPP gas.

Or be like me and spend 6 hours and 15 sawzall blades cutting the bolts in half on both sides. Did this in the front then brought an impact and mapp gas for the rear and it took 3 minutes.

I assume you live in the rust belt like I do?
 
I'm assuming you're removing the control arm bolts while the vehicle is still on the ground, with the tires on? If not, that's how you should be doing it. I say that because if you jack the vehicle up and then try to remove them, there is stress on the bolts from the axle / control arms hanging on them, and removing them will be really damn hard.

So that's the first thing I would do (if you aren't already).
 
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Mine were all corroded to the bushing liner and wouldn't budge lifted or not. If he had to cut the sway bar links my guess is it's corroded. But listen to Chris first. Rule out the easy solutions first!!!
 
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dan weis said:
my nephew is a pipe fitter and uses this stuff and is suppose to get me some
Click to expand...

It works wonders!

dan weis said:
i have the vehicle on jack stands and the axle is liftup up by a jack to release any weight
Click to expand...

If the axle is jacked up too much though, it could be over compressing the springs (more so than they would be if it was on the ground) and causing the bolts to not come out (this was the case when I removed mine).

Are you dealing with tons of rust and corrosion by chance?
 
Chris said:
It works wonders!



If the axle is jacked up too much though, it could be over compressing the springs (more so than they would be if it was on the ground) and causing the bolts to not come out (this was the case when I removed mine).

Are you dealing with tons of rust and corrosion by chance?
Click to expand...
there is alot of rust but i got the nut off of it by hand with no problem using a wrench
 
dan weis said:
i may just cut them off because i have to have this done on sunday. maybe i can find some grade 8 bolts at the depot
Click to expand...

That very well may be your best bet. Those bolts aren’t hard to find anyways. Just get some that Re galvanized of course.
 
Ok I just did mine also two weeks ago, and I think what you are saying is that you got the nut off but cant get the bold out. If so here is what I did frist of all I did all of mine one at at time.
second I put a ratchet strap on the bottom of the shock mount to the a hole in the trans cross member then ratcheted off the tension it didn't take much but I could pull the bolt out with no issues. then I replaced the control arm and tightened it down there and the opposite one came out and put back on with no issues.

20170909_143253.jpg
 
Thanks for all the hints guys. Especially the one about the ar lol I think I may have to chop it off I would love to use the original bolts but I guess not. I have the body side of the arm disconnected to get rid of any pressure in any position and this this still won't budge. And what sucks is that the end of the bolt I can hit with a hammer to attempt to knock it out is so close to the gear housing in the axle you can't really get a straight on hit. I will update everyone as the day goes on. Thanks again everyone this site has been so helpful
 
Chris said:
That very well may be your best bet. Those bolts aren’t hard to find anyways. Just get some that Re galvanized of course.
Click to expand...
Grade 8 galvanized? I think you mean zinc plated. Galvanized hardware is typically Hot dip galvanized and its intended for Pressure treated wood and other exterior applications. Same metal coating (zinc) but different application technique.
 
Ranger_b0b said:
Grade 8 galvanized? I think you mean zinc plated. Galvanized hardware is typically Hot dip galvanized and its intended for Pressure treated wood and other exterior applications. Same metal coating (zinc) but different application technique.
Click to expand...

Yes, that’s what I meant. Thanks for correcting me!
 
Chris said:
I'm assuming you're removing the control arm bolts while the vehicle is still on the ground, with the tires on? If not, that's how you should be doing it. I say that because if you jack the vehicle up and then try to remove them, there is stress on the bolts from the axle / control arms hanging on them, and removing them will be really damn hard.

So that's the first thing I would do (if you aren't already).
Click to expand...
Not only lift it, but use tie downs to move the axle around too. I had both rear wheels up and a jack stand to shift stuff around to where the bolt could be removed with two fingers.
20170904_172912.jpg
 
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I got the bolts out. All parts installed torque to spec. Now i know i am suppose to have an alignment done but i test drove it a quarter mile to check it out. Under 30 it feels like the wheels are doing what they want to and over 30 the front is like I'm going over speed bumps with busted shocks. After the test drive I rechecked to make sure everything was in place and tight and it was. Is this normal if I didn't have the alignment yet?
 
dan weis said:
I got the bolts out. All parts installed torque to spec. Now i know i am suppose to have an alignment done but i test drove it a quarter mile to check it out. Under 30 it feels like the wheels are doing what they want to and over 30 the front is like I'm going over speed bumps with busted shocks. After the test drive I rechecked to make sure everything was in place and tight and it was. Is this normal if I didn't have the alignment yet?
Click to expand...

Sounds like your toe-in / alignment is off. You know how easy it is to align these things yourself? Just incase you're curious:
How to align your Jeep Wrangler TJ

I would never pay someone to align my TJ, it's probably one of the easiest things to do yourself. If you can do the work you did yourself, you can easily align it yourself.
 
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