Replacing rusty control arm (minor trouble)

[soultron]

I had a control arm rust up and break. No big deal, no one was hurt and the car made it home fine. I got a replacement on pretty quickly. Trouble is, I can't get the bolts out of the car to get the old one off. I have a pretty long breaker, an impact gun and I've even put heat on them. Has anyone else run into this?

Next step is a long pipe on the breaker I guess.

[bheinen74]

those are some long 17mm or 19mm bolts, you need a cheater pipe on a breaker bar.

[idosubaru]

Yep bigger impact or longer breaker bar would be best.

 

Soaking in penetrant and heat will help.

 

Problems might just be starting for you though. There's a chance of the bolt shearing off. And then once the nut is off the bolt probably won't come out of the control arm, they like to seize in place.

 

Good luck.

[bheinen74]

you are talking about the 2 bolts going up into the frame? The captive nut is not accessible. Those are hardened bolts, possible to shear but if you go carefully they will thread out, lots of fine threads on those long bolts.

[Fairtax4me]

All of the bolts on the rear bushing for the control arm are ungodly tight for some reason. Makes no sense because the manual says they should be torqued to something like 65ft lbs. I guess because they aren't generally a part that gets removed, they seize up, but the best way is with a big impact wrench. If you don't have one, constant pressure applied with a breaker bar and cheater pipe and have a friend or helper whack the bar down near the bolt with a BFH.

[99ImprezaOSport]

Rustaru...

 

I agree with using an air impact, if you have good air pressure and a nice impact, otherwise a 3' breaker with a pipe added. Last weekend removing and installing my new 2004 trans in my 1999, I had a few stubborn bolts/nuts.

 

First though I would soak those bolts and area with some penetrate. I have NEVER broken a bold off using:

 

 

but there are others like AeroKroil, etc... Now before I do any repair I usually try to spray the night before and day of in helping ease those rusty parts...