Lower lateral arm bolt seized, need size

[Carlz0r]

My right lower ball joint separated while I was driving on Friday, so I'm now in the process of putting in all new lower lateral and control arms and upper control arms. However, the lower lateral arm bolt is completely seized in the bushing and the bushing itself actually tore when I tried to turn the bolt.

Does anyone have the actual specs for the size and thread pitch of this bolt? I tried the dealership and they had no idea, and it'd be nice to be able to get a bolt locally rather than ordering one through them. Thanks.

 

[jericho777]

Take the nut off measure the length of the bolt and go to your hardware store to match it up. Get I think a grade 10 the strongest metric bolt. But make sure the threads don't go inside your new arm. When you reinstall use grease or never seize on the body of the bolt to keep from rusting.

 

[Carlz0r]

Take the nut off measure the length of the bolt and go to your hardware store to match it up. Get I think a grade 10 the strongest metric bolt. But make sure the threads don't go inside your new arm. When you reinstall use grease or never seize on the body of the bolt to keep from rusting.

No local stores have them unfortunately. I think I may have found the size and thread pitch though so I just need to measure the length then I'll hit up all the machine shops.

 

[jericho777]

For all the running u r doing the $6 or $7 dollars from Mitsu would give the right bolt!

 

[PXHero]

I ran into a similar problem when I lowered my DSM... I had to cut the bolts and nuts out with a cutting wheel... I got replacements from the local dealership... probably $20 max for all four nuts and bolts needed to replace two lateral arms...

 

[allrice4g63]

why dont u just take it to the dealer its a factory recall to have them done. so its free.

 

[Carlz0r]

why dont u just take it to the dealer its a factory recall to have them done. so its free.

Recall was already done so they won't cover it. As far as getting the bolts, I've called the only mitsubishi dealership within 200km as well as all the Chrysler/Dodge dealerships, none of them have the bolts in stock. I found a suitable temporary replacement (It's coarse thread instead of fine thread) and I've ordered two new bolts from the dealership. They have to bring them in from Detroit.

 

[psycho]

McMaster-Carr for the bolts.

And the recall is for the life of the vehicle. If the balljoints fail, the dealership has to pay for any damages.

I have had it done twice, on two different vihicles. They replace the defective part, with a brand new defective part. If it goes bad, they have to replace it.

And don't let them give you the run around, call Chrysler corp. and bi*** up a storm.

 

[allrice4g63]

ya dude for sure that recall is for life bring that car in there tomorow and point out and be like u guys screwed up do it again.

 

[PXHero]

ya dude for sure that recall is for life bring that car in there tomorow and point out and be like u guys screwed up do it again.

It might not be so easy if your car's been modded... I know the dealership near me turns away modded vehicles for warranty repair. Because "the mod caused it" or "we can't fix that it's aftermarket." Same bs excuse they give when you install a remote starter and the ecu randomly decides to fry... "it's the remote start's fault."

 

[draculia]

fastenal.com for bolts, they have tons of local stores too, and you don't need to wory about buying in quantity like you do with McMaster. Their prices are better most of the time as well. The upper arms use m10x1.25 hardware, and just about everything else is M12x1.25. This is a funny pitch, and you can't really get longer bolts from anywhere but the dealer, but Mitsu stopped making some of them. Luckily you only need to run this pitch where the bolt screws into something that doesn't have a nut, and all of those bolts are short. Mitsu uses a combination of bolt classes, but stick with at least 10.9. Mitsu stock bolts are also reduced head; for instance, the M12 bolts have a 17mm bolt head whereas normally it would be at least 19mm.

I recently redid all of the bolts on my suspension from Fastenal. McMaster was considerably more expensive than Fastenal, in part due to the fact that I had to order minimum quantities from MCMaster. I went with 12.9 hardware, which usually only come as socket head bolts - the kind that use an allen wrench. I was worring that the boltheads might be too small, but since Mitsu uses reduced head bolts, they were perfect. The bolthead of an m12 sockethead bolt is typically 17mm in diameter.

Since most of the longer bolts were not available in the extra fine pitch of 1.25, I opted to just use the standard thread pitch of 1.75 for the M12s and 1.5 for the M10s. I went with 10.9 nuts since I couldn't locate 12.9 nuts anywhere. When everything was said and done I think I payed about 75 total for every bolt and nut in the suspension.

Sorry for the long post, I just figured I'd give some more backround info, as well as my experiences.

 

[allrice4g63]

if i was you i would bring it to the dealer and if they argue with you saying that it was lowered or whatever tell them this. For one there is a recall on these parts for a reason and thats because they do not work they way they should and then tell them that your mechanics went to school to work on these cars so they know as well as i do that any mod i did did not effect the ball joints failing. tell them that if they dont replace them and you crash due to the fact that they rejected you on a factory recall that they will have a law suit and you will gladly contact the chrysler corp and report the manager to them. im sure with enough bitching they will redo them. i only know this because iv had mine done twice and the second time they told me that they wouldnt do them because it came up they had been done a year prior. and i bitched up a storm saying is that all ## guys parts last is a year blah blah blah blah and threaten to call chrysler and they gladly got me in the next day..

 

[Carlz0r]

I'll try and get compensated for what I spent on the arm, but having already done it I don't know how successful I'll be. I do however have the old arm as well as the old ball joint so hopefully that'll help.