Broke the weld on trailing arm bracket bolt.

[AdventureSubaru]

Swapping the trailing arm brackets on my 97 Impreza. (Lifting) And I was worried this might happen. The bolts on the trailing arm bracket are binding and I broke one of the welds on the nut on the other side. (This happened on the outback they were pulled from too.) I'm looking to cut my way through the top in order to get some pb blaster on it and clamp a set of vice grips onto the nut on the other side. Is there any trick or better way to do this?

[idosubaru]

is it just a pass through bolt with a capture nut on the back?

and the nut just spins because the welds are broke?

 

if that's the case I think i would just tighten it until the bolt shears off. once it's tight you won't have to struggle and wrestle with it - just put the smack down on it until it shears.

 

trying to loosen will likely be a nightmare if you have any rust/corrosion to deal with. the outer exposed ends of the thread will just gouge into the nut as you try to loosen it.

 

sawzall, torch?

 

lots of PB blaster.

 

some folks have mentioned some stellar results after using some kind of rust penetrant stuff from like advance auto parts. they soak a rag and wrap the offending part for a night or two and apparently it does great things. i'd be finding out what that stuff was next time i have rusty stuff to contend with.

[MilesFox]

can you get a wrench on the captive nut to hold it still? otherwise, a sawzall or angle grinder to cut the bolt, if you can drive it out of the bushing. You can replace the captive nut with a regular nut, maybe tack weld it. You may want to use a nylon insert locknut to keep it from backing out.

[Fairtax4me]

There are a few MM of frame in the way of getting a wrench on the nut to keep it from spinning.

 

I'd try to cut a hole inside, under the rear seat maybe where it won't be as likely to get dirt/salt inside the frame and rust everything out in a year.

[AdventureSubaru]

That's what I ended up doing. Cut out the floor on the side of the seats above the brackets with my angle grinder and a cutting disc. There are 18mm nuts on the inside. I backed out the broken ones with a wrench on the nut, and my breaker bar and a cheater pipe. Soaked the other side in pb blaster overnight. One of the 3 came out. other two broke. Oh well. Replaced the broken ones with 1/2 inch zinc plated bolts from Menards. Tightened them down with the breaker bar. Should be all set now.