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I honestly don't think heating/cooling is going to help. The interference fit between the hub ears and the mount isn't that strong. Like others have said (and as I have personally experienced) a couple whacks with a hammer is enough to overcome that. As Roger pointed out, what you're actually fighting is the inner bushing sleeve which has rust welded itself to the mount effectively increasing the diameter of the portion of the mount inside the strut rod end. If you can somehow free that sleeve from the mount, the mount should tap out without a whole lot of effort. Hence my suggestion of burning out the rubber and then slipping a chisel/screwdriver into the bushing sleeve in order to spread it apart.
And I hear you on the budget. You'll find yourself among many who have blown away restoration budgets. My suggestion there is to start shopping ebay a lot. Setup some automated searches even. Also check the C3 parts for sale section daily. People are constantly parting out cars and upgrading, and quite often good used parts can be had for pennies on the dollar especially if you're only interested in a stock restoration. And generally rely on this forum. We have a great set of guys here that will very often go out of their way to help a brother.
All this information is great. I'm having the same problem with my shock mounts.
One question: Using a grinder or cutting tool is going to throw a bunch of sparks. The fuel tank is in close proximity to the shock mount. Is it safe to have sparks flying so close to the fuel tank?
I Just want to make sure I'm not heading into dangerous territory with attempting to cut the strut rod joint while it's still on the car.
I went with the shock mount removal tool for $20 and a good 5 pound sledge hammer. Once it knocked the two shock mounts loose the first time I removed them for the rear strut replacement, I never had a problem with them.
It was probably one of my first purchases from Ecklers back in '97.
I would like to first express my heart felt appreciation for all the input from you guys on this this forum and specifically this thread.
ROGER You are my new best friend. I was another rookie attempting to replace my strut rod bushings and within an hour found myself banging my head on the garage floor wondering how I am I gonna get these things out and cursing the 1974 Chevrolet, over achieving, engineer, puke who came up with this idea.
Both my owners manuals say they just pop right out. But with every blow of my hammer on those 40 year old car parts I had visions of my $200 strut rod replacement job turning into a $2000 trailing arm job complete with new spindle supports. I used heat and PB Plaster for a week but still could not get the mounts to move. Checking the forum one last time, before the onset of a nervous breakdown. I saw this thread and ROGERS input advising to split the Strut Rod and peel it off exposing the suspect. I followed the advise and had both off in 2 hours with no broken ears. The metal sleeves were not just welded to the shock mount they had become one. with a week of soaking PB Blaster not even a molecule had penetrated the to the mount.
Sorry for being so long winded but this is a VICTORY REPLY. Here are some photos of what I encountered hopefully I can help somebody else out
The cut was easy and a large screwdriver peeled the strut rod off. You can see how dry it was. I was able to work the pass side sleeve free and tap the mount out but the driver's side had to be cut and drilled. You can see the 40 year bond the sleeve and the mount created. The last shots are just something to think about when dealing with 40 year old parts. I read that alot of guys invested a lot of TIME in an effort to preserve the strut rod rather then cut and replace. The upper ends of both rods had cracks in them.
I went with he adjustable ones from Ecklers for $80( that's another thread) and scored the mounts for $90
1. Went thru the same sh*t your going thru last year. I beat on it, but was fearful of breaking an ear. Soaking it in PB blaster did not work. I also put a propane torch to it. Nothing.... During the whole process, I decided to replace my strut rods with adjustables, and figured I would need new shock mounts anyway.
I used the torch to burn the old rubber bushings out on each side where the strut rod connects with the shock mount. This created a nice gap to put a saw blade.
Then I tried a sawzall and hack saw to cut thru the metal sleeve and that did not work.
So I finally bought a 4 inch angle grinder from the home D store and 2 metal cutting blades for a few bucks and I cut those bastards out. Two cuts on each side. Made a lot of sparks. I was doing this while it was still bolted to the car.
This took about 1 hr for 4 cuts. Good luck.
Rebelrob, I just did this on my 75. How did yo get the rest of the bolts out of the ears? Thanks!
I would like to first express my heart felt appreciation for all the input from you guys on this this forum and specifically this thread.
ROGER You are my new best friend. I was another rookie attempting to replace my strut rod bushings and within an hour found myself banging my head on the garage floor wondering how I am I gonna get these things out and cursing the 1974 Chevrolet, over achieving, engineer, puke who came up with this idea.
Both my owners manuals say they just pop right out. But with every blow of my hammer on those 40 year old car parts I had visions of my $200 strut rod replacement job turning into a $2000 trailing arm job complete with new spindle supports. I used heat and PB Plaster for a week but still could not get the mounts to move. Checking the forum one last time, before the onset of a nervous breakdown. I saw this thread and ROGERS input advising to split the Strut Rod and peel it off exposing the suspect. I followed the advise and had both off in 2 hours with no broken ears. The metal sleeves were not just welded to the shock mount they had become one. with a week of soaking PB Blaster not even a molecule had penetrated the to the mount.
Sorry for being so long winded but this is a VICTORY REPLY. Here are some photos of what I encountered hopefully I can help somebody else out
The cut was easy and a large screwdriver peeled the strut rod off. You can see how dry it was. I was able to work the pass side sleeve free and tap the mount out but the driver's side had to be cut and drilled. You can see the 40 year bond the sleeve and the mount created. The last shots are just something to think about when dealing with 40 year old parts. I read that alot of guys invested a lot of TIME in an effort to preserve the strut rod rather then cut and replace. The upper ends of both rods had cracks in them.
I went with he adjustable ones from Ecklers for $80( that's another thread) and scored the mounts for $90
Regards Dins74
Dins74, I'll ask you as well. I just did the same thing on my 75. How did you get the rest of the bolts out of the ears? Thanks!
2 words
GAS AXE
amazing what you can do with stuck or rusted parts when you make them glow. Honestly I have an enormous shop full of awesome things but you won't find a spray can of any sort of penetrating oil in it
2 words
GAS AXE
amazing what you can do with stuck or rusted parts when you make them glow. Honestly I have an enormous shop full of awesome things but you won't find a spray can of any sort of penetrating oil in it
OLD Thread BUT I do use military grade Sili Kroil and Aero Kroil and EITHER will loosen ANY frozen bolt, nut, frozen part...guaranteed,as long as you give it a few minutes to penetrate......This penetrate is NOT PB Blaster, WD-40 etc.......
OLD Thread BUT I do use military grade Sili Kroil and Aero Kroil and EITHER will loosen ANY frozen bolt, nut, frozen part...guaranteed,as long as you give it a few minutes to penetrate......This penetrate is NOT PB Blaster, WD-40 etc.......
great stuff..use it all the time...
however did absolutely nothing for 3 days on mine..you have to drill that bushing or peel slightly on seam then hit with kroil..came right off with pulley puller...
Old thread but one that is common enough for today as it was 10-20-30 years ago. The shock mounts are sacrificial since the kurls will be wrecked most likely anyway. The bad ones seize in the center of the bushing and the spiral cut works. A good used rod is about $30-$40 a new shock mount about $50, and a used bearing support $75-$100. I have seen the legs of the support bent from hammering on them.
Here is one I had to cut out- the 4th pic should be the last one, I removed the mount but it was junk.
Old thread but one that is common enough for today as it was 10-20-30 years ago. The shock mounts are sacrificial since the kurls will be wrecked most likely anyway. The bad ones seize in the center of the bushing and the spiral cut works. A good used rod is about $30-$40 a new shock mount about $50, and a used bearing support $75-$100. I have seen the legs of the support bent from hammering on them.
Here is one I had to cut out- the 4th pic should be the last one, I removed the mount but it was junk.
Thank you for the detailed pics! I think I'm at the place where I'm going to try the clamp to push the remaining parts out of the ears.
I pounded on my 1980 and ended up breaking one of the ears off, so be careful. I also soaked mine with PB blaster for several days. When I did get it off (broken ear) the interior was still DRY.
I don't know if this will work, but here is a suggestion: put a baggie around the shock mount and FILL it with brake fluid. What you want is the mount SUBMERGED in fluid. Leave it for a few days. The brake fluid is thin enough to eventually penetrate the rust.
A penetrant like KROIL would work better than brake fluid if you have it.
l broke off an ear as well that shock stud is the most stubborn frozen bolt l have ever run into... the new bearing housing replacement costs $159 + shipping
let us know how came out with pocs..
also in my opinion...remove, knife out the rubber in pic along sides..drill slightly into the bushing to get oil in it and or maybe see the edge and peels slightly add oil..save the strut rebush with polyurethane energy brand usa made
Why not just buy a new set of shock mounts - they are cheap. And get new struts/bushings while at it of course. Or upgrade to Heim-joint struts. Just a thought.
This is what I did and found it less expensive to piece out the rod, Heim ends and required spacers than buying them complete. The shock mounts are usually too far gone to try and save IMO.
09-01-2010, 08:38 PM
