I have what seems to be a serious problem. For the past six months I've been trying to lower the front of my car and have not been able to get past a frozen and stripped bolt. The owner of the car before me must have attempted to lower the front of the car and instead of turning counter-clockwise the turned clockwise. PB Blaster, WD-40, Kano's and Vice Grips has all been used on the front driver's side in hopes of loosening the bolt. Nothing has worked. I really need to lower the front because the car is jacked up in the front and looks awkward.

I'm hoping someone will have a solution of getting the stripped and frozen bolt out. Maybe there's a way to drill it out or what not. Here are some pics.


Thanks

 

ttt

 

Is that "tab nut" holding the bolt in place? If so I would try to chisle it off the bolt.

 

hmm. . .that could be the problem, but it's so small that I wouldn't think so.

 

You are removing the weight off the end of the spring before your trying to turn that bolt, right? You won't do much but end up with bleeding knuckles if you are trying to turn that thing with the spring pressure locking it in place.

 

I sure did. . .I'm telling you there has been no stone unturned in this. The only way is to somehow remove the bolt all together.

 

See if you can use a 6" (or maybe 8") C-clamp to take the pressure off the spring. Use a strip/piece of wood to protect the spring where the C-clamp makes contact. Get to the bolt from under the spring if possible and with a sawz-all, or sabre saw, cut the bolt in two in the middle. Take the two pieces out and replace bolt.
HTH

 

File or Dremel new flats on it so MAYBE you can get a different socket on it.

 

Good deal, you have done about all you can do then. Other things I can think of to try:

1. Try to grab the large head of the bolt under the spring with some large vice grips and try to turn that thing. Vice grips on the bottom will give you a lot more leverage. BUT, it the bolt is really rusty you will probably just end up ripping the threads out of the spring. You may even have to drop the lower control arm down to access the bolt, but that is a fairly simple task.

2. Spray penetrating oil on there every day and go drive the car on some rough roads and try to work the oil down in the threads. Someday it might loosen up.

3. Heat! Take a small stainless steel plate and drill a hole just big enough to fit the bolt through. Drop the plate over the bolt the use a torch to heat the bolt. Keep the stainless plate up off the spring. Don't try to heat to fast, go slow and let the heat travel down the bolt. Be careful not to heat too much, those springs are plastic (or composite as some will correct). It would help to tap on the bolt some too, down, up, left and right. If at all possible use a stainless steel plate as it will pass heat much slower than most other common metals. Be careful using a torch with a lot of oil everywhere, we don't need to heat up the entire car! Keep an extinguisher close by just in case!

4. Remove the spring, cut off the bolt and drill it out and install new bolts.

5. And if all else fails. Buy new/used spring and bolts.

Are both bolts stuck, left and right? If the bolts have been pulled all the way up in the past it will be harder to get them to move. Be careful you don't twist the nut/plate out of the spring.

This GM design is not a great design. While it is simple and works great for manufacturing cars, it surely is a bad design for long term adjustably.

Note to GM engineering: If you are going to put a bolt upside down in a hole on a suspension member that will fill with road dirt and grim and hold moisture, please use a stainless steel bolt!!!

 

A Dremel with a small (1"?) cut-off wheel is another option, in order to cut the bolt in the middle or center of the bolt.
BTW, I would be extremely reluctant to apply excessive heat anywhere near that spring. It is a fiberglass/composite construction and easily damaged by heat.
HTH

 

I agree. Use a dremel tool to cut some new grip points on the head of the bolt.

 

Try Craftsman bolt outs. They've worked well for me.

 

My friend had the same problem. He bought a used spring just in case then used a huge pipe wrench with a pipe on the handle for leverage and just cranked it. It broke loose. Lucky for him it didnt break in half. Only downside is he had to remove the spring to get the wrench on it.

 

Just take the spring out. It's not that hard. Once out, a vise-grip on the bolt head will turn it out.
There is a "how to" on :
http://www.ls1howto.com/

 

we had the smae problem lowering my car i stripped the front passenger side bolt we welded nut on it. and dropped the lower a arm and the the bolt and bushing fell rihgt out.