Upper A-arm bolt removal

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Hyper Henry

Hyper Henry

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Removing the upper A-arms from my 68 Barracuda and one bolt on each side is seized tight in there. I have been soaking it with penetrating oil and does not seem to be helping. What's my next option to removing the bolt so I can get the A-arms off without wrecking anything?? Cutting torch???


Thanks
 
Mine had to be cut off but very reasonable new were had from Bumper To Bumper. Is B to B on your side of the border ?
 
Just went through this myself. Broke 2 nut busters, 1 wrench, and 1 cheater bar. Finally, a much longer cheater bar and wrench got it loose. If they are that rusted, you'll probably want to replace them anyway. Advanced Auto also sells them.
 
same prob on my ´69 dart. I cut the bolt, no other way to remove it.
 
if ya have a torch

put some heat on bolts
i assume bushings are shot or will be replaced

if no torch

air saw, or air cut off tool with disc something small

torch with small head will do it, snip cam bolt shaft, be good with that torch!

i cut mine off with air cut off tool, mine were bad!
 
I've found all 4 siezed in the bushings. Removing the nuts was a wasted effort. Torch burned out bolts, arms, bushings, all. Burning bushings stink !
Good luck
 
you poor guys, (and gals) I feel bad...the bushings, and uca bolts that came out of my 68 cuda, werent that bad, they were sorta tough to come off, but not that hard like you guys are describing...
 
mopardude318 said:
you poor guys, (and gals) I feel bad...the bushings, and uca bolts that came out of my 68 cuda, werent that bad, they were sorta tough to come off, but not that hard like you guys are describing...
Click to expand...

Then you got lucky! Those bolts are a ***** no two ways about it. Hard to get at. I usually can get mine out intact but it's just not worth it.Better to cut them and get new ones! Saves lots of time and grief.
 
mopardude318 said:
you poor guys, (and gals) I feel bad...the bushings, and uca bolts that came out of my 68 cuda, werent that bad, they were sorta tough to come off, but not that hard like you guys are describing...
Click to expand...

Not all of them are such a pain. I blame the worst rusted on road salt.
My 67 vert had crap trapped in the tiny gaps between that upper arm support and the inner fender so that sheet metal was rusted through also. A saw removed the rusted sections and those upper arm bolts were much easier accessed. They still weren't comming out though. Since the remainder of the inner fenders are in good condition I am considering a bolt on rubber flap sort of a splash guard similar to whats found on most everything but the a-body.
 
Had to cut mine off my 69 Dart, I have some new ones sitting here on the shelf if your interested.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I did not think their was enough room to get in there and cut the bolts with a cutting wheel?? But I will take a look as I would much rather use a cutting wheel than a torch.
 
Well with 4 1/2" zip discs, some heat, a big a$$ chisel and alot of cursing I got them out. Dam Canadian winters played havoc on these A-bodies....LOL
 
try a small right angle grinder with 3 inch thin cutting discs
be careful not to cut into frame, arms, or fenderwell!!
4.5 a bit big, cutting discs,
if ya have a rotozip with flex head attachement , that shoud do good as well


upper ball joints be a bastard to get out too

if they are put some heat on it use a strong impacy wrench as well,

dont forget a can of rust eater!
 
do u have a air chesall try vibrating them they may loosed up some there a pen.spary we use at work hard to find i think it,s call kroly. i will get the real name to day but my friend dad work at the mortane salt companty and the salt just froze up any thing. als
 
alsdemon said:
do u have a air chesall try vibrating them they may loosed up some there a pen.spary we use at work hard to find i think it,s call kroly. i will get the real name to day but my friend dad work at the mortane salt companty and the salt just froze up any thing. als
Click to expand...
Thats what I used an air chisel worked great had the same problem one on each side broke raddled them right through with air chisel easy
 
I just did mine on the passenger side- car was sitting for 30+ years. Broke the front one, but enough of it protruded that I could pound the bolt through the bushing. I also used a prybar between the bold head and the frame tab. The rear one was also frozen, but responded well to heat with rapid cooling. I took my time with repeated soaking with SiliKroil, too. These were as bad as I can imagine but still got em without cutting.

front pass pry.jpg


front pass loose.jpg


rear pass 1.jpg


rear pass heat.jpg


rear pass loose.jpg


rear pass nut.JPG
 
I was lucky to just unbolt mine on the 66 Dart.(must have been kept in a barn for years)Even when I removed the rearend,I cracked the bolts and spun out be hand.I,m also guessing this car wasn,t driven in salt in Alabama?
 
I am having the same problem with the a arms off the car..I picked a couple things a princess auto,,a nut cutter and a torch that is way hotter than a normal propane torch but cheaper than a oc/acc setup.
 
I forgot to mention that raising and lowering the suspension was also probably important to freeing things up.
 
down here the nuts loosin right up,tap it with a hammer and they slid right out,piece of cake
been the salt route also,people who never lived up north cant understand what salt can do to a car
luv those pics!!takes me back
 
OK,
After reading this thread I owe everybody up north an apology!
If you have been following my thread on Disc Brake Upgade (http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=90216)
I made no mention that you might run into this problem!
Please forgive my southern ignorance/bliss!!
Mine like others mentioned just took a spray of WD-40 and came loose and out no issues.
I will now copy this thread to that thread for those that need to know.

Later,
Bruce B.
 
Thanks Bruce! Canadian winters are harsh both for the salt and sand dumped on the roads and the crazy amounts of snow and ice some areas get. Dont get me wrong,not all areas are like that. Sometimes we get no snow in cities like Vancouver,or allmost no snow.

As far as penetrating oils go I've been using PB blaster. I find it works much better than WD-40.Even better than this is Kroil,but I dont have any right now.Damn stuff's expensive enough that I dont like using it,lol..so when it runs out I dont replace it right away.

I've removed bolts by virtue of burning out the bushings to save the bolts.Not pleasant.
 
mopardude318 said:
holy cow...simon, those are some galled up parts right there!! gee whiz!!
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Dude- its so bad I am embarrassed to post in my resto thread.


needsaresto said:
Thanks Bruce! Canadian winters are harsh both for the salt and sand dumped on the roads and the crazy amounts of snow and ice some areas get. Dont get me wrong,not all areas are like that. Sometimes we get no snow in cities like Vancouver,or allmost no snow.

As far as penetrating oils go I've been using PB blaster. I find it works much better than WD-40.Even better than this is Kroil,but I dont have any right now.Damn stuff's expensive enough that I dont like using it,lol..so when it runs out I dont replace it right away.

I've removed bolts by virtue of burning out the bushings to save the bolts.Not pleasant.
Click to expand...

I went through a can of PB Blaster and cannot recommend it. By contrast, I wouldn't even consider WD-40. Sili-Kroil rocks the house. I have had the same gallon jug since 1989... but I think that will last only another week or so. lol
 
Just to add to this thread, when you do get them off, use never seize on the replacement ones. Never Seize is some neat stuf. I also hve a bucket of these cam bolts if anyone needs some.
 
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