• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

lower control arm bolts?

Share this page

1

1960AH_Pops

Member
Offline
I am in the process of removing the front suspension, I have the spring out and have removed the cotter pin and castel nut from the lower control arm bolt, my question is how do I remove the actual bolt? It appeares to have a grove in it for what would look like a flat head screwdriver, does the bolt have to turn to come out or something else. It is a very tight place to get to, and hard to see, any suggestion would be great. I thought about trying the air chizzel in between the bolt head and washer but I wanted to get some advice here first. Thanks!
 
That washer on the Fulcrum pin (bolt) is welded to the bolt head. There is also a large notch on the washer that locates the washer and keeps it from turning (so you can't turn the bolt when it is fully seated). The washer on the castle nut side also has a special notched washer but that one is removable. Prying under this washer should allow it to come off. Then I would spray penetrating oil on the fulcrum pin assembly and let it sit a good while.

You could try to tap out the bolt from the other side .. put the castle nut on loosely to protect the threads and try to get a good angle to tap it out (easier said than done). You could also try to squeeze it out with a large C clamp (with oversized socket on one side) or two clamps and some type of bar arrangement.

If worse comes to worse and you mess up the pin/washers, they are avail. new.

Once you get the pins out .. good luck with the rubber bushes. Mine came out easy but some are not as lucky.

Cheers,
John
 
When I rebuilt my front end several years ago, I tried everything to remove the pins, including soaking with PT blaster and pounding with a heavy hammer. Nothing moved. Finally grabbed the Sawzall with a metal blade and cut the pins into between the mounting backet and the rubber bush, front and back. Only took a few minutes per side and the replacement pins were not that expensive. I wish I had not wasted all the time and effort trying to remove the old one first and just got on with it.
I did have to have two of the old rubber bushes pressed out of the arms with a hydraulic press. Those suckers were really stuck....Well,you'll need new ones anyway.
Remember when installing the new pins and bushings to follow what the manual says about blocking the arms in the "normal" position before tightening the pins.
 
The following has worked for me on 3 cars:

1) Soak with Kroil. Let stand. Kroil's mfg says it only takes a few minutes, but I like to apply it 2 or 3 times over the course of a week before the actual task itself.

2) Remove castellated nuts and their washers.

3) Tap a cold chisel or sharp screwdriver between the fixed washer and the chassis bracket--just to get a little space.
4) Hammer a pickle fork in between the washer and chassis. Keep soaking with Kroil. Use a second pickle fork to get additional leverage.

5) Repeat as necessary until the pin comes out.

6) Make a note of the position of the cotter pin holes for when you insert the new ones. Make sure you have pins.
 
I cut mine out with a hacksaw blade in my hand with rag as a padding - well the one side, it took so long I invested in a recip saw working off the compressor, the other side took 5 minutes, use plenty of oil as a coolant.

Bob
 
You will notice that there is a hole in the frame member just adjacent to the threaded portion of the fulcrum pins that you removed the castel nuts from. Get an appropriate sized hex head bolt, a washer, and a nut for that bolt. Place the hex head butted up to the threaded end of the fulcrum pin with the other end in the hole. The washer should be on the frame member around the hole and the nut threaded onto the bolt. Turn out the nut against the washer so the bolt head will put pressure on the fulcrum pin and push it through the bushes and wishbone body. Spray plenty of PB Blaster or something on the fulcrum pin and gradually turn the nut to increase the pressure every hour or so and the pin will come out with a "BANG" when it lets go. It may happen while you are there or overnight while you sleep.

Hope this helps,

George
 
Back
Top