I was able to lower 3 corners of the car tonight but the front left bolt just wont loosen, Ive sprayed it with wd40 but it still wont budge can anyone provide any insite on this? also does anyone know the size wrench to use on this, what is the easiest way to turn these bolts they are such a pain? thanks in advance

 

You have to remove the pressure on the bolt to move it. I found it easier to remove the front wheels, loosen the lower ball joint and end link and shocks. Then drop the spindle, put a small piece of wood under the mono shock and use your jack to move the shock up. This will remove the pressure and you can turn the bolt by hand. This may be the hard way around but takes me 20 to 30 minuets to move up or down. :cheers:

 

WHAT!!! :eek: :eek: :eek:
There is absolutely no need to do all of that to take the pressure off of the front lowering bushing/bolt. Just jack up the front and support it with 2 jackstands on the crossmember. Now take your jack with a small piece of wood on it and slightly raise the end of the leaf spring. Just be sure to get it as far on the end of the spring as possible. If you have a bottle jack it works even better. NOW, you have removed the tension on the bushing and it should turn very easily with a 10mm wrench.

 

thanks guys i will give that a try, hopefully it turns out ok

 

ok I have tried the following suggestions but nothing has worked. this bolt wont move either way and I have broken a couple sockets on it already. it is now to the point there the bolt is a bit rounded off, what should I do?? Do I need to replace it and if so how?? thanks again

 

Man I wish I knew what to do now. CCW to lower, but i'm sire you already know that. The only thing you can do is spray some penetrating lube on it and let it sit overnight and try vice-grips. It should NOT be that tight!


[Modified by MTWallet, 9:59 PM 5/26/2003]

 

:iagree:

Spray some WD-40 on it, and let it soak in for a day or so. Use a 6 pt socket or box wrench before resorting to vice-grips.

Don't know what else to suggest, with the spring pressure removed (by jacking on the spring itself), the bolt should turn so easily you can usually turn it by hand. A common mistake is to jack on the A-arm (silver-aluminum part beneath the spring) which will only increase pressure and make the bolt impossible to turn. The spring is black -fiberglass, about 3" wide...make sure you're jacking on only the spring and not the A-arm.

Good luck.
:cheers:

 

I've got the same problem with trying to lower the front on mine. The back was a piece of cake but the front is a different story. I've tried jacking the spring and using penetrating lube and I still can't break that sucker loose. I gave up on it for now. Maybe the oil will work after leaving it on for a few days. I've almost rounded the head on the bolt too. Maybe it has something to do with the age, mine is a '97. The older ones may be rusted or corroded to the point that they need penetration oil.

 

I never thought that this would become such a project, I breezed throught the other 3 bolts with no problems, if the lube doesnt work how do I go about replacing this bolt??

 

2 problems with replacing the bolt:

1) You need to unthread the bolt (and drop much of the front suspension) to replace it...since you can't seem to move it either way, this would be a problem.

2) The adjuster bolt to the best of my knowledge isn't available as an individual part from GM. If you buy the spring, it comes with the bolts installed, but the bolts aren't sold seperately.

There is a steel insert pressed into the spring that the bolt threads into. It is very possible the threads are corroded, and the penetrating oil should certainly help.

:cheers:

 

99z,
You might have to disconnect the lower ball joint for access to the bottom of the bolt (the bushing part). It is about a 1" diameter piece of metal and you can get a pair of vice grips on it. The bolt will turn then because you can get a lot more leverage on it.
I had to do this on my '99 also a few years ago.
Dave

 

I had the same problem last month; the bolt is threaded into a steel bushing that is glued into the spring from the bottom. If you look at the bottom of the spring with a mirror you will see what looks like a washer, that is the bottom of the steel bushing. First, the lower control arm needs to be lowered ( see tech tips ) and the steering knuckle lifted on a piece of pipe to get it out of the way. The brakes can be left alone but disconnect the sensor wire on the bearing. I had to buy a tool to separate the lower ball joint from the steering knuckle; using a common pickle fork tool can damage the ball joint seal. If you carefully tap the head of the adjusting bolt both side ways and down the glue bond should break; the bolt with steel bushing should eventually fall out. Keep checking under the spring with a mirror as to the location of the "washer" or bushing lip. Put the freed steel bushing in a vise and heat it with a torch then unscrew the bolt. Clean the bushing and hole in the spring with solvent to remove any oil but don't sand off any material. then reglue the steel bushing back into the spring with a good high strength epoxy. You can then screw the cleaned bolt back into the spring and reassemble the lower a-arm. GM doesn't sell the bolts alone, they come with the spring. Since the spring is not plastic you cannot heat the bolt up hot enough in place to loosen it without ruining the spring.

 

If you need a new bolt I am sure someone on the Forum will sell (or give) one to you since many have removed them completely. It worth a shot.

 

just wanted to let everyone know that I finally fixed the problem. I have to give a big thanks to everyone especially one of my buddies who gave me a hand :cheers: here is how I got it done.. remove bolts for upper control arm, remove bolts for lower shock, remove lower sway bar bolt, then drop the lower control arm down as far as possible, now for the best part... grab a pipe wrench and put it on the metal washer on the lower part of the bolt. that will get that stuck bolt movin. that was it only took me two days and lots of help but hey it was worth it :thumbs:

 

WOW ALL That! I was lucky I did mine with no problems. Glad you got it fixed. :thumbs:

 

That's what I keep saying! :banghead:
:cheers: