2G Upper Control Arm

[XiKeiyaZI]

Having a terrible issue here and it has me pretty stumped. I'm trying to change my driver side axle and so far everything has come apart easily, I even got the nut off in the picture below with minimal aggression. Now that I have it off and need to separate the Hub assembly from the upper control arm, the bolt will not budge. It's like it's fused inside of the hole. I've smacked it, pried it (Not like there is a good place to pry), wedged it, everything. It's been soaking in penetration oil for a while now and it just won't budge.

Does anyone happen to have any suggestions? I'm stumped. ;|

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

Yeah, but is isn't just broken bolts, that is putting a load on your differential bearings not having the shaft bolted to the block. It will also wear out the splines in the transmission and on the intermediate shaft.

I'm highly aware of what it will do - thus why it is currently on jack stands on not being driven. Pointing out the obvious isn't enthusiastic right now. Just irritated - so if I come off harsh then don't take it personal.

The issue vs the task isn't worth it. For the headache I could just get rid of it and grab another. What's #15 really going to hurt?

 

[bryanwheat]

Your logic is silly, sell it instead of taking a few hours to fix. That's why there are so many of these cars out there broken down. Hell i'd pull the engine out and fix that before selling it. Again, that is being lazy.

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

You're missing the "I'm frustrated part". Jesus, is your sarcasm radar made out of cement or something? There are several DSMs back on the road and saved from scrap yards due to me doing things like that. I just get easily frustrated and vent for a while before I actually get it done. It's a terrible cycle.

After using a mirror and a bit of measuring, I have a single bolt hole which has a tad less than 1/2 an inch to work with. I'm going to simply tap that for a slightly more aggressive thread and drill the carrier arm on the axle just a tad to accommodate the somewhat larger bolt threads. With the amount of room I have it should be more than enough to keep the axle bolted down nicely. If I can somehow manage to arch a drill in there then I will extract the second bolt.

 

[bryanwheat]

You're missing the "I'm frustrated part". Jesus, is your sarcasm radar made out of cement or something? There are several DSMs back on the road and saved from scrap yards due to me doing things like that. I just get easily frustrated and vent for a while before I actually get it done. It's a terrible cycle.

After using a mirror and a bit of measuring, I have a single bolt hole which has a tad less than 1/2 an inch to work with. I'm going to simply tap that for a slightly more aggressive thread and drill the carrier arm on the axle just a tad to accommodate the somewhat larger bolt threads. With the amount of room I have it should be more than enough to keep the axle bolted down nicely. If I can somehow manage to arch a drill in there then I will extract the second bolt.

The stock size bolt and threads work for every other car, why won't it work for yours?

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

........I'd assume because some asshole broke the bolts off in the stock threaded holes and damaged the ones there? Why else would you re-tap a bolt hole? It sure wasn't a parasitic life-form etching the idea in the cement floor out of it's own excrement, that's for sure.

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

Actually due to the Trolling Fortune cookie I encountered a short while ago - I'm going to drop it was Bryan suggested and go from there. Hell, I may even pull the entire motor. Who knows.

For your viewing pleasure.

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[ENICKB]

Soak in wd40. Use ball joint seperator and its HAMMER TIME!

 

[boosteclipse]

Now your talking, once it is fixed you will be proud of not giving up. Nice fortune by the way.

By the way, I think you overcomplicated the axle removal.

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

Now your talking, once it is fixed you will be proud of not giving up. Nice fortune by the way.

By the way, I think you overcomplicated the axle removal.

It wasn't the removal of the axle, in particular, that was the issue. The biggest issue is that the stub from that ball join would not come loose no matter what. Once I disconnected the upper control arm it was cake getting it removed and the new one installed. The most excruciating part was trying to get the upper control arm back in place. For whatever reason it simply would not line up properly and I had to contort the way I was prying it into place while pulling it down and simultaneously inserting the bolt. I'm not sure if it's slightly misshapen or what, but that's what I'd assume. Either way it's done now.

Now... I have to deal with taking all~ of that back apart again, on both sides, to do this, or pull the entire engine. Very frustrating.

Edit: That's far too much work. I can simply use a right angle drill and a stud extractor and viola.

 

[boosteclipse]

Good luck on removing the broken bolts. It is not necessary to seperate any of the ball joints to get the axle out. After destroying a few dust boots I learned the easy way of doing it.