Rear strut lower bolt, ya I broke it!!

[bassman]

Impact made short work of breaking that bugger in no time!

after 2 hours of cutting and drilling it is out and replaced with a new strut and stainless nut and bolt.
I have decided to leave side 2 for another day till I can take the time to fight with it.

other than lots of oil and maybe heat is there any way this can come apart without breaking?

maybe I will take it to ford for them to do.....how much would they charge to do 1 strut?

[perucho]

Soak it with PB Blaster everyday for a week and remove it that weekend.

[bassman]

Soak it with PB Blaster everyday for a week and remove it that weekend.

day 1 complete.

thanks i will do that.

heat??

[Pu241]

after 2 hours of cutting and drilling it is out and replaced with a new strut and stainless nut and bolt.

Stainless is great for it's anti-corrosion properties, but it does not have the strength of the OEM hardware, which is usually grade 8.
Stainless is typically grade 5.
Just a thought.

[Occhty]

I find that most of the time, it's not the nut that seizes up but the bolt inside the bushing. If your not trying to save the strut. I cut as much as possible out of the bottom strut, basically turn the round bushing part into a c shape with a cut off wheel. Then with a little prying the strut can be removed, next cut out the rubber bushing with knife, after that you'll see you still have a metal bushing left, now heat this up with a torch and then the bolt tends to come out intact without harm to the bolt or swing arm nut. This is my method of removal when after spraying for two weeks of pb blaster fails.

[bravekozak]

anti-sieze

Just a little dab of anti-sieze compound will prevent this problem from ever occuring again. Anti-sieze is usually aluminum, stainless or copper flakes suspended in a viscous oil.
It screws up the dry torque specifications, but the nuts will never sieze on the bolts again.
Guess what. They never put any on at the factory.
I put it on ever body fastener that I have wire-wheeled or cleaned the thread up with a tap.

[Festy46]

I find that most of the time, it's not the nut that seizes up but the bolt inside the bushing. If your not trying to save the strut. I cut as much as possible out of the bottom strut, basically turn the round bushing part into a c shape with a cut off wheel. Then with a little prying the strut can be removed, next cut out the rubber bushing with knife, after that you'll see you still have a metal bushing left, now heat this up with a torch and then the bolt tends to come out intact without harm to the bolt or swing arm nut. This is my method of removal when after spraying for two weeks of pb blaster fails.

This is the way I do them. I have never broken a bolt, and I have done a lot of them. This also works for the bushing bolt on the front lower control arm.

[drddan]

I had read so many horror stories about these bolts, that when I wanted to put on Aspire sturts, I soaked those 2 bolts almost everyday with PB Blaster for a month! Tapped 'em with a hammer bout every 3-4 soaks.
Voila!!!! They BOTH came out, no problem!!! Man, was I relieved. I just KNEW they were gonna break. So I sure was happy when they didnt.

[freshtiva]

I hate those bolts, LCA bolts too. Just plain hateful !!

[Festiva_Fred]

I've been lucky with mine Only times I've broke them were on my parts cars, so it didn't matter. On all the ones that I drove they came out no problem.

[sc72]

stuck bolts

When it comes to removing stuck and rusted bolts [strut bolts] we use a heat riser penatrant, this product will loosen and dissolve rust. GM has one called A.C. Delco Heat Riser Penatrant and the same for Chrysler,its called Mo Par Parts penatrant. Read the instructions, they want you to shake it really well before use. To use-- spray the penatrant on the bolt or nut, you don't have to drowned it like other sprays, just get it wet a couple times,smack it with a mammer to help loosen the rust and re-apply spray.When you get the bolt out,do as bravekozak suggested,apply some anti seize to the bolt before you reinstall the bolt,heck spray the nut and bolt a couple times the week before you change the stuts,can't hurt. Hope this helps.

[bassman]

Ya, I saw that impact socket turning and I thought I was home free then spin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been soaking side 2 every day hoping that it will be nice.

[bassman]

UPDATE!!

I did my second one and my friends car today, my car I used lots of oil and heat, for my friends I used nothing but heat!!

I set my impact on a low setting and let the torch get the nut just about red hot and out it came with no problem.

the torch was a simple plumbing torch.

[TominMO]

Good job; it's fun beating those strut bolts at their own game.

[g3ride69]

Kind of out of left field but... I have a caterpillar dealer up the street....they have all kinds of heavy duty nuts and bolts in stock! (and surprisingly cheap)