Seized ball joint bolts

[jons_s3]

Arrghhh, just attempted to replace the top ball joint this evening and found the two bolts holding the ball joint to the suspension arm were totally and utterly seized. I got the nuts off and have drenched the bolts in penetrating oil to no avail and one of the heads is starting to round off. Any ideas on how to remove them? My thoughts so far include:

- Mole grips
- Whack the threaded end as hard as I can

I'm just a bit worried about completely knackering the bolts so they never come out!

[GreenV8S]

If at all possible though, your best bet is to apply more and more torque until it either releases or twists in half. To do this it is important to have a socket or ring spanner that is a tight fit, ideally six point not twelve. Once you have rounded off either end then your other option is to break either the bolt or the nut.

Luckily you can get at both ends of the bolt so snapping or breaking the bolt is not a problem. In fact if you can't undo the bolt that will be the easiest way to tackle it. You can use a nut splitter to take the nut off, or carefully hacksaw through either the nut or head end, or if brute force is more your style you can take the head off with a chisel and lots of attitude.

Hammering on the threaded end of the bolt will just damage the thread and guarantee that it won't unscrew. I reckon that by the time you start hammering on the bolt and but, you can pretty well abandon any hope that it will unscrew.

[GreenV8S]

Oh hang on, you've got the nuts off (presumably the bolts sheared when you tried to undo them) and the bolts have just seized in the wishbone? In that case just beat the cr@p out of the exposed threaded end, putting plenty of mass on the far side to stop the impulse going into the suspension.

[gefopsman]

GreenV8S said:

just beat the cr@p out of the exposed threaded end,

That will be a technical term then Peter

[jons_s3]

GreenV8S said:

Oh hang on, you've got the nuts off (presumably the bolts sheared when you tried to undo them) and the bolts have just seized in the wishbone?

Yep, that's right. Nuts are off and the bolt heads are starting to round. I might try applying some heat and see if that helps.

Thanks for the advice!

[GreenV8S]

gefopsman said:

That will be a technical term then Peter

Yes! If all else fails then it comes down to "percussive maintenance". To be most effective you want a heavy hammer and a drift to ensure that the impulse is delivered squarely to the thing you are trying to shift, hold the drift in something other than fingers to be on the safe side unless you are 100% sure of your accuracy with the hammer. Put something at least as heavy as the hammer on the far side of the joint so that the impact doesn't dissipate in the wishbone, bushes etc. Something like this would take a good swing with a lump hammer, no good just tapping it. Heat and easing oil helps as well, but probably not at the same time.

[keithyboy]

Totally agree with Peter. Beat the sh*t out of it! I had the same probelm when re-building the front end on the V8S. A small drift and a club hammer!