I'm in the middle of installing Cruise coils but I can't get the bolt to come out of the lateral control rod !

The frame is supported by jack stands, I have a floor jack under the diff, the shocks are off, the rear anti-sway bar is disconnected, and I have beat the ˟˟˟˟˟ out of the bolt with no luck. I tried dropping the diff down with the floor jack, still no luck. Do I need to drop the diff or lift it up to put the least amount of stress on the bolt? I have Downey HD springs in there now if that makes a difference . Maybe if I can get the springs out first, I can remove all the tension from the rod HELP!

 

Bill - I can only guess that pulling the springs would help. Do you have a FSM? I'll go check mine to see if it has any words of wisdom. Will call you if I find anything.

 

Did you unscrew the bolt and can't remove it, or can you not budge it? Did you use the impact wrench on it?

The FSM shows the frame on jack stands and a floorjack under the diff. It says to remove the two bolts and disconnect the shackel bracket from the lateral contol rod (this is on the axle on the driver's side) It then just says "remove the bolt and nut holding the LCR to the frame and disconnect the LCR.

When re installing it says torque to 101 ft lbs. Maybe the last tech gorilla'd it on? Has it even been off? Is this the one you told me about that gave you problems before?

 

FYI - The drawings in the FSM shows the springs "in" the vehicle. The diagram shows a little "keeper" on the bolt head side. Have you rotated this free of the frame?

 

I'm going back to it now. Finally got the boys in bed.

The nut came off no problem, I just can't drive the bolt out of the center of the end link of the control rod. I have the FSM and I'm following the instructions to the T, as you can tell it doesn't give you any hints. The "keeper" is on the opposite end of the bolt that I'm wailing on, so it doesn't have any effect on driving the bolt out. I'll try the air hammer feature of the impact wrench with the nut on the end of the bolt so I don't mash the threads like you did with the front axle .

I don't think this bolt has ever been removed.

 

I'm useless to you now. I'm in the bag.

 

Foiled again! At the moment, I can't get the upper brake line fitting apart b/c the wrench flats on the fitting on the end of the hard line are rounding off. Bolt in the lateral control rod is still stuck in there. Can't put the Cruiser coils on if I can't remedy either of the above problems.

 

Any luck yet?

 

A little. I got the upper brake line fitting apart. Had to use the smallest pipe wrench I could dig up on the stripped hard line side and an open end wrench on the other and the rust bond finally broke free. you need to be a contorsionist to get two arms up there to hold the wrenches!

Flyg PMed me about the bolt and said his was rusted in too. Had to cut it out with a sawsall. So that is what I'm gonna try next.

 

Update:

I beat on the bolt for about an hour with a hand sledge and I thought I was making progress....that was until I noticed that I was driving the sleeve of the lateral control rod (LCR) into the back side of the factory panhard bracket which was bending the metal towards the front of the truck. The bolt WASN'T coming out of the sleeve as I thought!

So now I'm going to have to cut the bolt out like Flygtenstein did. Then I'm going to torch the bolt out of the sleeve which will most likely destroy the bushing. Hopefully, it is possible to buy a new bushing/sleeve from the dealer.

 

Well, its looking like if I ever do get around to doing this install, I'll have something to look forward to.

Any more luck?

 

I was out of town on business today so no progress. Cebby found a local junkyard for me that has a 90 4Runner and the yard is going to try and get the lateral control rod (LCR) off that truck without cutting off the bolt. We'll find out tomorrow what happens with that. In order to put the panhard drop bracket on my truck I have two choices
1) cut the bolt on both sides of the LCR with a sawzall and remove the LCR. Then try to remove the bolt from the sleeve by heating it up with a torch.
2) try to heat up the seized bolt with the torch and drive it out of the sleeve while the LCR is still on the truck.

Either way, I want to have a spare LCR on hand so if I destroy the bushing I can put the spare on and still drive the truck to work the next day.

 

Bill - I had a thought....apparently a good one:

From Energy Suspension's website:

1990-95 4Runner
Rear Track Arm Bushing Only
P/N: 8.7104

The LCR = Panhard = Track Arm (?)

 

Here ya go:

http://www.central4wd.com/store/itemdetail.asp?ID=1963

 

There are bushings on both ends of the LCR. The one connected to the axle comes right off when you slide the LCR off of the pin that is welded to the axle. I think the bushing on the panhard bracket side is fused into the rod end itself. I'll have to call Energy Suspension and get more details.

 

Bill - I didn't get a call this morning from the yard "All Import Salvage" near Springdale. So I stopped out there and the guy i talked to yesterday wasn't in. Maybe try Wagners in Zelienople?

 

Figures,

I called about the Energeny Suspension bushings for the LCR and the first thing the guy told me was "you have to torch out the old bushing because the bolt will be rusted into the sleeve". This was before I even told him where I lived and they are in CA so the siezed bolt thing must happen to everyone. The bushing kit comes with bushings for both ends of the LCR BUT, the one on the panhard side is designed to work with the factory sleeve which of course is now morphed metallugically into something that looks like a grade 8 bolt So if I destroy the sleeve trying to get it off the bolt, now I'm back to where I started

I'm still surprised more people haven't chimed in saying that they had the same problem. Come on guys, somebody has to have an easy solution!

Anyway, I'll call Wagner and see if they have a used LCR.

 

Hey Pahydorhead,

What are you going to do with the Downey Coils - I have a friend who needs them. Give me a price.

 

Bill, As long as we can get the sizing of the sleeve, there is no reason we can't make one. All the sleeve is is a piece of DOM. I saw seamless metric sized stainless tube on McMaster Carr the other day when I was researching another "project"

 

Flygtenstein just PM'ed me the same thing. I'm going to check and see if I can get it from Grainger. That way I could possibly get it today. I know the nut is 22mm. What is the bolt shaft O.D.?