What would you do? Pinch Bolt... FML

[maurizio]

Read a bunch of threads on this one, i thought i would give it a try.

-Broke both sides of the bolt, not really surprised after 12 nasty winters in the salt belt.
-Heated the crap out of the arm and beat on it with a hammer.
-Got a pneumatic hammer from home depot racing supply, heated the crap out of the arm and hammered away for a good 10 mins (x3)






Options:
- Drill it out. Not looking forward to this, it will probably drill crooked and then i will have to replace the arm
- Get a used arm from fleabay
- Get new arms $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

What would you do?

[old guy]

Jack up the steering knuckle to the normal loaded position and then try again. If the knuckle is hanging down it puts the the upper tie rod shafts in a bit of a bind and makes the pinch bolt harder to extract.

[Furly]

Some ppl heat the pinch bolt with a torch and bang it out

[EuroxS4]

What you want to do is push the bolt out or break it free.Its gonna be time consuming if you want to save the knuckle.Definitely don't drill it.You want to alternate and push from either side.Spray it up real good with a lubricant.Heat it if you must.You want to make sure you can get the bolt to move.Ive seen people cut the bolt into 3 sections between where the control arms fit.then extract in in three pieces.If you can't get the bolt to move then chances are it's seized and not coming out.


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[gilber33]

I bought a pair of used arms from ebay for 200. It made the entire job painless and very quick. I also installed new hubs and bearings so it was literally pulling the old assembly out and putting the new one in.

[crazyquik22023]

Jack up the steering knuckle to the normal loaded position and then try again. If the knuckle is hanging down it puts the the upper tie rod shafts in a bit of a bind and makes the pinch bolt harder to extract.

THIS, plus cut the old bolt where the slot is so you have a shorter bolt then use the "c-clamp method" by using a large c-clamp and a bolt that fits into one end of the pinch bolt hole and pushes on the pinch bolt and put a long socket on the other end of the spindle to catch the bolt(or pieces of the bolt) when it comes out. This is the cheap method that does the same thing as if you had the $400 snap on/dealer tool to remove this bolt.

[agart]

Jack up the steering knuckle to the normal loaded position and then try again. If the knuckle is hanging down it puts the the upper tie rod shafts in a bit of a bind and makes the pinch bolt harder to extract.

x3.

[seanf86]

I just break the hex end off, air hammer it out until it hits the knuckle, saw it off, air hammer it some more, I've done it this way numerous times and never a problem however I'm removing the bolt to replace the upper arms and they get destroyed in the process.

[road_tripper]

my pinch bolts come out by hand, and I agree that unless the knuckle is in the right place, the bolt will not move.

you can get pretty close by doing what old guy said, and for fine adjustment try to remove the steering tie rod end; when everything is lined up you should be able to remove/reinstall the steering tie rod end by hand or with a gentle tap.

[CardFan]

my pinch bolts come out by hand......

Says the guy in Nevada.

[Bmase]

I cut the bolt head off put a little heat on it then I use an old door hing pin as my punch fits just right and a 5lbs sledge and it usually makes the job pretty easy