I’m in the process of doing a rc 3in lift on my 85 pickup and I’m having issues with seized bolts because of the very old bushings in the springs. Anyone got any ideas?

 

Lots of penetrating oil, wait a few hours for it to work it's way down the threads, rinse, repeat.

After a few cycles of that, hit it with heat, either a cutting torch, or a MAP gas set up, then apply, judiciously, a BFH to it.

Repat all of the above until they break loose. An impact driver, with a heavy, 6 point, impact socket to fit, is also very helpful, either after the whole penetrating oil series, or on it's own.

I wish you good fortune! Seized bolts can be rough...
Pat☺

 

Just be careful banging around under their with a BFH and the jack stands at max like they look.

 

torch them off

 

Yeah trying not to use a bfh cause I don’t want to damage the bolts. Hard to find shackles and pins for this thing. Instead I bout a bf pry bar. That and A LOT of heat is working. Very slow process. I appreciate the help.


have anyone you done this lift or now anything about it? Im curious about running the shims that come with it.

 

I've had to literally burn the bushings out with an acetylene torch on older trucks before. Not fun, but gets it done. Get a respirator if you go that route.

 

I used a cutoff wheel to get one of mine free.

 

Did you finally get them out?

 

yeah i was able to pull them with A LOT of heat and a BF pry bar with blood sweat and tears. I bent one of them with a bfh and was lucky enough to find some new ones at the dealership.