control arm removal

[Hans Conser <conser@xxxxxxx>]

Been there, done that!  I took my 32mm the open end of my 32mm wrench and used it kind of like a pickle fork, wedging it between the arm and the subframe with a sledgehammer hitting the closed end, with the wrench parallel to the subframe working from the passenger side of the subframe.  About ten good hits and it popped off.  Funny how on my friends 85 it was the drivers side that was stuck also. 

Oh wait, on reread I realize you are stuck on the strut end, not the subframe end like I thought.

Hmmm, good penetrant, heat, BFH and/or pickle fork should do it.  If not, take the  control arm, hub/strut assembly and all to whoever is going to press the bushing onto your control arm and let them deal with it.  Sometimes it's better to get a little professional help.  

Doing control arms on my bud's E30 and my E36 got me hooked on the best penetrant ever "B'laster PB" (800-858-6605 off the can, I got it at Checker) absolutely amazing stuff, 20 times better than liquid wrench.

Tom, the good news is that the E30 and E36 are basically identical front suspension wise, so if you ever get an E36, you already know how to do it.

Good luck,

Hans Conser, D.C.
Network Chiropractor
Boundless Health Chiropractic




?Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2002 20:10:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Tom Byrum <mycroft@domain.elided>
Subject: Control Arm Nightmare

Alright folks, I undertook the control arm operation this evening, and I'm
afraid the patient is still on the table.

First thing we did, after getting it up on the lift and pulling the tires, was
unbolt the bushing brackets. That went swimmingly. Then we unbolted the swaybar
connections. No problem. Then we attacked the subframe bolts. The passenger
side, for all of its lack of clearance was easy, while the drivers side, which
was supposed to be the easy part, got the nut seized near the top of the bolt.
After that, the bolt would just swivel around. We couldn't even dent it with a
vise grip to hold it still, nor could we back the but off to clean the end of
the bolt. Finally, we resorted to a grinder and cutting disc, cutting the
control arm portion from the bolt. We then cut a couple flats on the bolt to
lock the vise grips on. That gave us enough leverage to get the bolt the rest of
the way off.

That should have been the hardest part, right?

Nope.

We figured we could just pull/pry/hammer the strut bolt out, like we did on the
passenger side. That assumption was rapidly proven incorrect as no matter what
we did, we could not budge the bolt a millimeter. We tried everything...heating
the area with a propane torch, then hitting it with a drift pin and
hammer...heating it with an acetylene torch, then hitting it with a drift pin
and hammer....hitting it with a hammer....putting a pry-bar on it...That bolt
seems to have not moved for the past 15 years, and shows no signs of doing so
now. It is tapered, so we can't simply drive it up...it has to go down.

So, we hit it with liquid wrench and will let it sit overnight. We are going to
try again tomorrow, but if that fails, I'll have to remove the strut (take off
the calipers and ABS sensor) and try to figure out where I could take it that
might have a chance in hell of getting this thing apart.

So, my question is, do you guys have any suggestions? What can you do in a
situation like this? I thought about using the torch to melt the bolt out, but
that would just as easily melt the strut hole, taking it out of clearance. The
steel is FAR FAR too hard to even think of drilling it, as far as I can tell
(though the vise grips did score it a little).

I'm really not looking forward to the thought of having to find a used strut to
replace this one with.


                        A very weary Tom Byrum
                        1987 315is with no control arms (or one too many)

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