**a little frustrated**
Burning Brakes
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 905
Likes: 0
From: Rhode Island
Originally Posted by Dope
If all else fails, spray that POS with pb blaster several times, letting it soak in. Grab your biggest pair of vice grips and tighten it on there as hard as you can get it. Use that to get it started.
My passenger front bolt is always stuck. I stripped the head on it trying to spin it with a long snap-on wrench. It just wouldn't move. I eventually got it by clamping a pair of vice grips on it as hard as I could with 2 hands, and then banging on the vice grips with a 5lb sledge. No joke. Once it was freed it was fairly easy to turn with a wrench.
Month later, had to make another adjustment, it was frozen again. This time with some PB blaster and a long wrench I got it to turn eventually.
You really don't need to raise the spring much at all. As long as the underside of the lowering bolt is clear of the a-arm (ie: you can put something thin under the rubber pad on the underside and it clears), you have relieved tension on it. If it's still not turning, it's just rusted in place or seized. Be very careful if you continue to jack, as I managed to jack my car off of the jackstands with a dinky 50 year old bottle jack by accident and didn't even realize it! I had like 3 inches of clearance under the bolt and it still wouldn't move. That's when I went to the vice grips.
Dope
My passenger front bolt is always stuck. I stripped the head on it trying to spin it with a long snap-on wrench. It just wouldn't move. I eventually got it by clamping a pair of vice grips on it as hard as I could with 2 hands, and then banging on the vice grips with a 5lb sledge. No joke. Once it was freed it was fairly easy to turn with a wrench.
Month later, had to make another adjustment, it was frozen again. This time with some PB blaster and a long wrench I got it to turn eventually.
You really don't need to raise the spring much at all. As long as the underside of the lowering bolt is clear of the a-arm (ie: you can put something thin under the rubber pad on the underside and it clears), you have relieved tension on it. If it's still not turning, it's just rusted in place or seized. Be very careful if you continue to jack, as I managed to jack my car off of the jackstands with a dinky 50 year old bottle jack by accident and didn't even realize it! I had like 3 inches of clearance under the bolt and it still wouldn't move. That's when I went to the vice grips.
Dope
I just did mine. I had to release the pressure with a jack on each side. The passenger side backed out OK with a 10MM wrench. The driver side was real hard and in fact the top of the bolt was already stripped a little before I even touched it. I had to sock a pair of vice grips on as hard as I could squeeze it and then was able to back it out. It was rusted. It doesn't matter whether or not you chew up the top part of the bolt because there will still be plenty of good threads left on the bottom for future adjustments.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 14,942
Likes: 0
From: Los Angeles
ok,well check this out:day 2,another failed attempt...i didn't even get as far as i did yesterday...i'm not as mad as i was yesterday but more thankful...i jack the car up a bit...attempting 2 position a jack stand...i'm getting this strange intuition that something isn't right..something bad is about 2 happen...no sooner than i realize i'd better get out of the position i'm in, i hear a LOUD pop 
and the car pretty much drops 2 the ground..i dont know if the jack gave way or what...@ that point i walked away and thought about what could have just happened 2 me...went back,had 2 struggle 2 get the jack from under the car...put everything away...covered the car up and came in the house...
and the car pretty much drops 2 the ground..i dont know if the jack gave way or what...@ that point i walked away and thought about what could have just happened 2 me...went back,had 2 struggle 2 get the jack from under the car...put everything away...covered the car up and came in the house...
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 23,283
Likes: 906
From: Lake Elsinore, CA
That's why I said this earlier:
Realize that the jack may start to raise that corner of the car at some point so keep safety in mind at all times.
Thank goodness you're OK. Tomorrow's another day. Have a
and call it a day. 
Realize that the jack may start to raise that corner of the car at some point so keep safety in mind at all times.
Thank goodness you're OK. Tomorrow's another day. Have a
and call it a day.
