2day i tried 2 lower the front end of my vette..maybe there was 2 much pressure on the leaf spring..i dont know..i think i stripped the bolt.. the 1st 1 i attempted 2 loosen wouldn't turn !!! i couldn't really get the 10 mm wrench 2 grip it and it just went downhill from there...i want 2 make another attempt 2morrow but wont waste my time if i screwed it up by stripping the thing..maybe i did something wrong so as not 2 alleviate enough pressure off the lowering bolt..should it be easy enough 2 turn by hand if i have enough tension off it?? my car is lowered 1" inch in the rear..a guy @ WCC was nice enough 2 do it 4 me while the car was up 4 an oil change.@ the time i was concerned about leveling out the stance of the car..u guys have really made me cognizant of the overall stance of the car and i'm itching 2 lower the front...what am i 2 do?? the situation 2day made me

 

any1 remember lowering their vette ??

 

I haven't had any experience with this but we'll send you to the top. ttt And hope you get the answers you need to get this done.

 

thanks..

 

i remember lowering the vette, but it was a while back. there should be NO tension on the bolt. i didnt even need any tools. i used my fingers to turn all the bolts. if i remember correctly, i used a small jack and jacked up underneath the spring to relieve the tension. then the bolts just turned freely. hope this helps, im sure someone will chime in with more help!

stay cool, it will look good once its all done!

 

thanks...thats gives me a glimmer of hope..maybe i had the jack positioned incorrectly...i'm gonna try it again 2morrow...rain or shine...in the garage of course...

 

Yup same here. I lowered mine a few months ago. Didnt even take the wheels off. All I did was jack the car up and turned the bolts the correct way. There was no tension at all on the bolt it turned very easily.

Im thinkin you either did not relieve the bolt of its tension or you were turning it the wrong way. Should be a very easy job.

Hope this helps.
JT

 

You think you're going to sleep with this on your mind Get back out there and try again

 

u know what....i might just do that...i'm very tempted...

 

I would put off trying to turn the bolts for a few days....BUT I would go get a high quality PENETRATING oil and apply it to the bolt area tomorrow, and give it a few days to soak in....The try again. DON'T use WD-40, it is a water displacer, not a lubricant, and COMPLETELY useless as a penetrant.

Some of these parts seem to turn freely as they ought to, and some report bolts frozen as if gripped by a demon. Try a good penetrant and I bet it will help loosten things up a bit. My husband is just begining to restore a 1950 Ferguson tractor, ....the stuck bolt thing is really a common topic in our house right now too.
Good luck
Jennifer

 

thanks jennifer..what type of oil do u suggest??

 

Liquid Wrench is one. I have not attempted this yet, but the way I understand it, not too much pressure on spring. Just enough to take tension off. Good luck, this is something I will be doing in the very near future

 

cool...thanks

 

Haven't tried this on mine, but good luck getting yours lowered down.

 

You should be able to turn the bolts without the use of penetrant. I've done a few of these and if you take all the tension of the front bolts you should be able to get them lose enough to back them out. I wouldn't recommend the use of any chemicals unless you run out of options because of the composite material that the spring is comprised of.

Your best bet when the bolts are stubborn is to support the front crossmember with jack stands with the wheels off. Then place a bottle jack under the end of the leaf spring just between the A-arm legs as pictured below. Use a towel between the jack pad and the spring to prevent damage. Prop the jack up on wood to raise it high enough to provide ample travel. Slowly and carefully, a little at a time, start to jack the end of the spring up and try the bolt every couple of pumps. Realize that the jack may start to raise that corner of the car at some point so keep safety in mind at all times. Jack a bit and try the bolt - repeat as necessary. A couple of times I've had the bottle jack almost completely supporting the corner of the car before the bolt gave in. Eventually it always does if you relieve the pressure enough. The bolt's bushing normally rests on the A-arm and resists rotation due to friction so it will be difficult to turn until you practically lift it off that surface, allowing it to spin more freely. Once you get it started, it turns much easier. Don't worry if you stripped the top of the bolt. As long as you can get some tool such as a vice grip or pliers on it to turn it, you're fine. Remember that you're turning it counter-clockwise as you're looking down on top of it so a screwed up head is not going to keep you from lowering the front.

 

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

 

lol!

good thing it came loose! Id probably go nuts getting that thing off


red

 

You sound like me at first when I did this. I ended up stripping the bolt from the top with the 10mm wrench. I was going crazy and cursing.

I didn't put enough pressure on the spring to relieve it from the bolt. So I jack it up a little higher, placed the jackstands for better angle.

If you want to remove the bushing to cut it, I would spray some WD-40 where the rubber is making contact with the spring,

If you want to cut the bushings off of the front spring adjusting bolts to lower the front more, then all you need to do is:

1) Remove upper control arm to frame bolts (4 total) per side
2) Remove lower shock mounting bolts (2 total) per side
3) Remove sway bar endlink to lower control arm , 1 per side
4) Place jack under spring - between lower control arm legs and raise up spring
5) Now remove adjusting bolt and cut bushing to desired level then reinstall
6) Reassemble everything in revese order.

If you stripped the bolt I would use a pair of vise grips, the only problem with that as you will find out you have no room to turn it. You will have to Remove upper Control Arm bolts (4 bolts total) . It really seems like a lot of work, but it is not.

Also don't forget to torque it down correctly. HEre is some help Torque Specs for Corvette C5

 

Sorry I didnt read all the replys, but if no one mentioned it..
I had the same prob, I used a jack to relieve the spring and I could almost turn it by hand.. Post pics when done.

 

wow....thanks 4 all the informative responses.....i'll be making another attempt in the afternoon....thanks..