Siezed (and welded!) rear camber adjustment bolt

[pierremcalpine]

Went in to the shop thinking I was in for a straight-forward alignment job but gods would not have it. The shop was able to complete the alignment on the front wheels but when then went to look at the rear wheels they discovered that one of the two camber adjustment bolts is gone and what remains of it has been welded on by a well-meaning mechanic a few years back (see pic of undercarriage, items circled on left) . The alignment is off on both sides but not so much that I'm feeling any kind of major pulling but am concerned about uneven tire-wear over time.

He suggested that getting ride of the welded camber bolt may be tricky and could be accomplished either with a grinder and/or a torch (see pic for grainy image of welded bolt).

Not sure how comfortable I am using a torch under there and have never used a grinder but figure it can't be too complicated. I'm looking for some words of advise on whether or not I'm getting myself into trouble attempting this. A couple of questions come to mind that may or may not be relevant:

a) How high a likelihood is there that I will "over-grind" and damage the arm (piece #1006998)? I'm told I may damage the bushing inside so will need to procure one of these too.
b) When/if I'm successful, will any parts spring back on me once tension is released from camber bolt? If so, how much tension are we talking about here?
c) Will I be able to get this job done with a grinder a hammer and possibly a torch or am I going to be at this all weekend with potentially little to show for it?
d) some posts suggest that a replacement arm (part 1006998) is in order...seriously? Is this job that difficult?
d) am I missing something?


Alternately, should I just leave as is? LR toe is at 0.11", RR toe is -0.04, LR camber is at -2.18' and RR camber is at -0.41'. All four of these measurements appear to be in the "red" zone on the diagram from the alignment shop but beyond that and the fact that I'm not experiencing any major pulling I"m not really sure if these measurements are ones I should simply live with.

Thanks!

[960kg]

In the diagram you can read off the allowance of error in the settings between left and right according to your model and suspension fitted...

It may help you decide if worth going through with it all despite not even noticing any difference!

[magnuz]

Has someone welded the nut to the eccentric washer ? If so, i can't understand why, unless an ordinary bolt has been fitted ?
The proper bolt has the eccentric washer attached to the head of the bolt & has a flat side to the shank of the bolt, which is also useful for getting penetrating fluid in to it.
I would just buy a new (proper) bolt & nut with new washer, & then grind the end off the bodged one to get it out !

[pierremcalpine]

Originally Posted by 960kg

In the diagram you can read off the allowance of error in the settings between left and right according to your model and suspension fitted...

It may help you decide if worth going through with it all despite not even noticing any difference!

Thanks, 960kg...that does put things in perspective, doesn't it. As long as I'm reading correctly (and looking at camber and toe-in only) it appears to me that I'm not that bad off...sort off.

Using the regular settings (not sport)

Left rear camber seems off at -2.18' vs. tolerance of -0.67 to 0.25
Right rear camber seems fine at -0.41'

Left rear toe-in seems fine at 0.11" vs. tolerance of 0.079 to 0.15"
Right rear toe-in seems off slightly -0.04" vs. same tolerance as above.

The thrust angle is off (I did not mention that measure in my last post) and not sure how that comes into play.

For me, as long as I'm only getting in there to remove a seized bolt or two, I may still be willing to take the project on. If it turns out that the lower control arm has to come out because the bushing needs to be compressed to get inserted, etc then I'm more tempted to leave this well alone.

[pierremcalpine]

Originally Posted by magnuz

Has someone welded the nut to the eccentric washer ? If so, i can't understand why, unless an ordinary bolt has been fitted ?
The proper bolt has the eccentric washer attached to the head of the bolt & has a flat side to the shank of the bolt, which is also useful for getting penetrating fluid in to it.
I would just buy a new (proper) bolt & nut with new washer, & then grind the end off the bodged one to get it out !

It's really hard to tell but I had the same kind of questions. Ultimately, if I can grind the thing off it's not that big a deal but I'm wondering if it is also seized to the bushing...if that's the case, short of carefully slicing the bushing into a few pieces and knocking some out so I can punch the old bolt pieces out, not sure what to do.

[pierremcalpine]

Hi,
I've given up on the idea of getting the welded bolt out without damaging the bushing...got myself a used lower control arm instead with bushings included for same price as the darned bushings.

Anyone know if there is a guide out there on how to replace one of these...looks to me like the main challenge remains getting that f'n seized camber/toe bolt out!

The other challenge I seem to be having is that no one can seem to agree on what this arm is called - lower control arm, trailing arm, arm...Anyone sure of the exact name for the large piece in the picture attached? It is making google searches on DIY's slightly more challenging.

[fat tony]

Dead easy to remove.

Get it jacked up, wheel off and onto stands

Remove the anti roll bar link 16mm socket on the top, 12mm open ended spanner on the lower piece (use this so you don't put too much pressure on the ball joint)

Unbolt the hub end bolt 18mm spanner, 17mm socket

Unbolt the rear strut 18mm spanner, 17mm socket

Take the weight of the arm/hub using a trolley jack and knock the hub bolt through
Lower the jack a bit to let the damper/spring decompress and then knock the strut bolt out

This will leave the arm fastened at the camber bolt end only and it should swing down with a bit of persuasion

Grind the end of the camber bolt off, knock the rest of it out, then fit the replacement arm

Refitting will be the reverse of removal

I'm a dab hand at this now due to some issues i had last week, i could change the arm, start to finish on around 20mins now!

Obviously, you'll need to have the alignment sorted due to the new camber bolt

I'm sure someone with access to vadis will be able to supply the torque settings, i just used my best judgement lol

[magnuz]

I just call it the( rear)" lower suspension arm".
Bear in mind that the bolt at the bottom of the suspension leg/strut where it fastens to the lower arm is often seized, & could be more of a problem than the one your having problems with !

[pierremcalpine]

I finally got up the nerve to attempt the removal of the lower control arm as per Fat Tony's instructions. I was so cocky about this job and it's low difficulty factor that I meandered through dinner, made way way slowly outside at 7pm, jacked up the car just so (high enough that I'd be able to slide underneath the back end with my angle grinder ready to remove the siezed camber bolt) and got to work.

Wheel off, check.
Sway bar end off, check.
bolt which connects wheel axle to lower control arm...immediate problems encountered.
Sprayed nut and bolt with loosening agent and moved along to strut/lower control arm bolt. Took some cursing, back rubbing, repeated attempts with electric impact wrench, the removal of brakes and finally the good old breaker bar to loosen up. Got nut off and went back to work on axle bolt.

Holy crow, another 30min later...still siezed (and getting a bit rounded on edges of bolt head!!!). Sprayed more loosening agent. Used the tighten-first technique which loosened things up nicely. Got bolt off and figured I was in the home stretch. Think again.

I finally got the bolt loose but when I went to loosen by hand, it would spring back on me. I would get about an eighth of a turn of loosening and the darned thing would just bounce back to the original position. Tried the impact wrench again...away she went to no avail.

Sun was going down, no doubt that neighboors were peering out windows having laughs at my expense and I finally accepted that the first battle had been lost. Put all the tools away and with my head low headed back into the house.

Thinking back to the siezed camber bolt (whole point of this job), my thinking is that the axle mount bolt is seized into the metal housing of the bushing in the control arm. I'm also thinking that that is what happened to the camber bolt too. No amount of turning is going to get the thing out because it simply bounces back to the original position - even with breaker bar and impact wrench employed.

So, here's where I'm looking for opinions...I can't be the only one who has encountered this issue. How the heck do I get these bolts out???

Basically, the nuts come right off but the bolt itself even without the nut turns 1/8 of a turn (with a very strong pull) and then bounces back. I though about grinding bolt head off as well as protruding male end but I don't think this will do the trick. I'm very concerned that the rest of the bolt, if siezed in the bushing won't come out. I even tried hammering the crap out of the bolt end (with nut affixed) to see if it would move...no go. What is the best next step?

My thought is that I may need to get up from underneath and grind away on the inside of the control arm so that I cut through both the bushing AND the bolt...this seems very tricky and potentially dangerous (not to mention awkward in the driveway with limited vertical space). Has anyone attempted this? Any other ideas? I have the second lower control arm ready so damage to the existing arm is not an issue.

Help!

[pierremcalpine]

Originally Posted by magnuz

I just call it the( rear)" lower suspension arm".
Bear in mind that the bolt at the bottom of the suspension leg/strut where it fastens to the lower arm is often seized, & could be more of a problem than the one your having problems with !

You called that one right, Magnuz. The newly discovered siezed bolt is causing serious havoc...not the one connected to strut though, the other one closer to outside of car.