sherrvt

I just installed ball joint spacers and wanted to uncrank my torsion bars but the nut on top of the bolt is seized. I tried pb blaster, torch and a impact gun. All that ended up happening was the nut on top rounded off.

I ordered a replacement bolt and nut, but I was wondering what the best / safest way to remove the old one. Should I just jack up the front and remove the shock, then grind off the old bolt head?

MudHippy

I recently replaced both sides on mine too.What ended up working for me, when nothing else would, was to just keep reefing on 'em with a breaker bar 'till the bolt snapped. It's not a very thick bolt, wasn't too hard to do. You might still be able to hold onto the nut with a pipe wrench. That's what I always use on rounded off fittings, works wonders.

But yeah, jack the truck up first, whatever you do.

iamsuperbleeder

yeah I ended up breaking both of mine off last time when I removed them, lol


works like a charm when you've got a 3ft breaker bar







you shouldn't have as much thread sticking out the top like mine do (mine were cranked down a little bit), but if you do, that bolt is going through the floorboard, and there's nothing you can do about it on both sides, when the bolt broke, and the spring tension let loose, they both shot up and put nice little holes in the floorboard... shows just how much spring tension those t-bars are under

sherrvt

I don't have any way to hold on to the top nut anymore, so I'm going to remove all weight from the front and disconnect the shocks / balljoints then grind the bolt head off.

How much force should I expect the bolt to come out the top with and will I need to cut it after to remove it? or is there enough to remove it with just the head removed?

4bangercraig

I duck taped a crow bar to a 22mm wrench and pushed on it with both feet...

There's not a lot of space there, but mayyyybe if you kinda angle it out once the bolt head's gone...
This sounds like a fun one.

metalhed

I just did this on my Son's truck. The bolt on the pass side came right off, the Drivers side took a full day. Rounded the nut off, wasted the whole bolt.
Frustrated!

I went to Harbor Freight and bought a Body Saw=$17 and some blades= $7
Stuffed as much cardboard, between the bolt/nut and the floor of the truck, as would fit and cut the bolt with the saw.

A regular sawzall wont fit. The cardboard is so when the bolt snaps, it does not drive the end through the floor. There is alot of energy stored in the bolt, from the torsion bar.

There is a hole on the Torsion Bar hanger, that is where you cut the bolt. 5 minutes of cutting and done

Good Luck

MudHippy

O.k., that's probably doable, so long as you're careful not to mess up the part that's under it. Those can be reused, no sense in paying for new ones. But what's going to happen when heads are ground off is like what iamsuperbleeder said happened. The top part of the bolt is going to launch like a rocket towards the floor of the cab. But you could put a block of wood on top of the bolts, should work. Removing them could be the real issue though. You'll probaby need to hack 'em into pieces a little at a time, to squeeze 'em out from under the cab. If it were mine, I'd cut as much off the tops as I could before cutting/grinding the heads off too. Less massive projectile.

metalhed's plan sounds like a good one too. If you've got a body saw you might try that method instead.

strykersd

I normally just grind the head off the bolt and that works for me

RustBucket

iTrader: (1)

Put it back together with anti-seize!

MudHippy

Don't forget to do that!

JamesD

I hope you did not try to loosen or tighten the torsion bar bolt when the truck was on the ground. My truck being that I live in NY, has rust. I had to heat mine up with a MAP gas torch. It worked perfectly. Just make sure to wire brush the bolt good before you put it back in. If the bolt looks like rust has eaten it away, get a new nut and bolt or just buy them for cheap insurance.

James

sherrvt

So I've cut the excess threads from the top the of the bolt and cut / ground off the head of the bolt, but it's still stuck in it's normal position. It didn't move at all.

Is the half moon dealie just above the head of the bolt threaded?

Cyberman

The half mon dealie is not threaded. It might be seized in there though.

peow130

I put a big pipe wrench on the top, with a 4 foot breaker bar on a 22mm socket/1/2 drive ratchet on the bottom.
Took me about 6 hours lol

metalhed

you have to cut the bolt in half. No room between the mount and the underside of the body, to remove the whole bolt

sherrvt

I got it our fine. For anyone else that has this problem later, I had to drill out the half moon thing before there was a huge bang and the bolt released.

I had a 2x4 above the nut and it split it clean in half. After it released I had to cut it in half to be able to fit it out the top.