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have any of you run into an issue where the lower control arm camber bolt seems to have seized into the lower control arm bushing? I am unable to hammer it out even though the nut and the camber plate on the nut end are off. The front bolt came off without any resistance, but the passenger side one seems stuck to the bushing. I can rotate it with a wrench (about 35-45 degrees, as much as the camber bolt allows the bolt to rotate), but hammering on the nut on the back of it will not budge it forward at all. What is the trick here? I am ready to pull out the torch to convince it some more.
awesome, i will try that tomorrow. if you have done your control arms, do you know what the goop on the back of the ball joint on the upper control arm is? or is mine special
i really like how easily the ball joints come off on this car. the two big ones i was able to hit a factory flat spot on the side with a 3lb hammer and they popped out easily.
The goop is factory coating that should be on all ball joints. Mine has them too. I chose to leave my control arms on there, and burned the bushing out with a torch. That crap goes everywhere. My white car was black when I was done.
Try letting it marinate in some PB Blaster, or WD40 for a bit, then rotate it back and forth like you were doing with a wrench on one side, and tap it with a hammer on the other side to try and coax it out. If that doesn't work.....
i have let it marinate in PB Blaster now for 2 days, and i tried putting some heat to it, but the bushing will try to catch on fire if i get on it with a torch too much. Starting a fire under my Lexus is not on my to-do list so that plan is out for now..
i have a feeling that what has happened is that the bolt has seized to the bushing insert, and the bushing itself has separated from the insert, which is why i can turn the bolt the amount that the camber adjustment allows me to, but it won't back out with a 3 lb hammer. the nut has started to deform...
my next course of action is juts sawzalling the camber bolt thru the bushing i guess..
update is: i cut through the bushing with a sawzall on each side as close to the bracket as possible. the control arm dropped out after that. Wasn't too bad to cut through, just use a short metal cutting attachment on the sawzall. Time to get new LCAs anyway i guess.. 185k miles and future track days would be a bad risk for the ball joints.
passenger side rear was almost stuck as well, but the hammer moved it.
doing my lca's for what has turned into a three month project and searched the brakes off the internet. im having a large issue with the rear bolts coming out.
methods ive used are as follows
penetrating oil and 8lb hammer.
cut off wheel (didnt fit)
sawzall with 14tpi blades (ran through three blades in 5 min)
nothing nicked or budged these rear bolts.
do i need a different blade on the sawzall??? please help
please
If its these bolts with the washer like ruler built into it for alignments, you need to try the other side. The head of that bolt WONT turn, they are welded to that ruler and are one piece. Its the other side that you need to wrench on.
fasteners are seperated but studs were locked in. Ended up taking a cutting torch to burn the boot out and then cut the rear stud. Definitely an annoying job.
Lexus OEM rubber bushing is slotted and tears apart. My car came from the Rust Belt of NE. I'm cutting the rear control arm bolts now.
I used the Supra lower control arm. I lost my Lexus-smooth ride.