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I have a 92 festiva that I'm trying to put new brakes and ball joints on. The only hold up I have is the control arm. The end of the bolt that holds the control arm in goes into the boxed section of "frame rail" it has a nut on it with some sort of keeper. when I tried to get it off the nut spins with the bolt. anyone have any ideas? My only idea is to cut the boxed section enough to get a wrench in there then weld it up when done. has this happened to anyone else?
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Try this link for assistance.
Welcome to the site!!Jerry
Team Lightning
Owner of Team Lightning
90 L "Peewee" B6D. Bought new May 16,1990
92 L Thunder BP G5M-R Turbo B6T electronics. Jan 2016 FOTM winner SOLD
93 L Lightning. BP
Not a user of drugs or alcohol, Just addicted to Festiva's -
I had a similar problem. My bolt was seized in the bushing sleeve and in my attempts to get it out by turning it I broke the nut 'keeper'. Once I got the bolt out and tried to replace it I noticed the nut was spinning. I basically got a large screwdriver and forced it between the nut and the frame rail wall to hold it in place. PITA but it worked.
1993 Ford Festiva L ($650)
Mazda 1.8L BP - PaceSetter Header (in progress)
Aspire Swap - 15x6.5 wheels, 205/50/15 tires
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Make sure when you replace the bolt and provide your own nut that they are Grade 10 strength. Lesser hardening would not be safe over the long haul.
One of the reasons I tout "doing it yourself" is that a shop I once had replace these parts used "ungraded" bolts to install the LCAs! I bought Grade 8.8 (at the time I thought this was enough) bolts and made them redo it.
You should be able to do what you have to do through the first hole in the bottom of the "frame rail" behind the captive nut area. Use a pry bar to widen and/or bend the metal at the hole edges to make a bit more room. When I put in a new nut one time, I used chewing gum to hold the nut on my finger to get it onto the end of the new bolt, and then I put a medium sized screwdriver up in there to jam the nut so the bolt could be mostly tightened. Once you have it snug, it shouldn't be necessary to keep the screwdriver up in there and you can torque the bolt to specs.
Lots of PB Blaster for several days ahead of time is a good idea when working with possibly frozen parts.
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I have been forced to cut the head off those bolts, pop them through the cage, flatten the cage out, grind down a flat on a washer (for good contact surface for replacement lock/flat washer) and replace them on almost all my LCA's due to rust. That is a strange four sided heavy nut they used for certain in the cage! Probably worked well in non corrosive territory. They and the rear strut bolts that seized in the eye sleeve are a rear pain!
MichaelHave owned 9 so far
White 89 L converted to LX "The Curmudgeon" Being a Curmudgeon right now.
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Red 88 L converted to LX "Rasta, Mon" Now retired
Where did all these @#*&%$ Toyotas come from around here?Comment
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Thanks for the help, I hate working on salt state cars. I'm hopin to have the front end back together by saturday so I can focus on some other things.
Thanks for the edit PU241. I couldn't figure out how to edit the title.Comment
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