So, I tried to put my new tundra coils on the other day, and got the 3 top nuts off of the strut mount, the nut off the bolt through the bottom, but I couldnt for the life of me get the bolt out.

I tried a punch, plain old beating it with a hammer, moving suspension up and down while beating with a hammer, pressing the top A-arm down with the jack while hammering, tried an impact wrench, tried getting a screw driver in under the nut head and tried torquing but couldnt get enough angle on it with the breaker bar, it kept hitting fender well or brake rotor...

Does anyone have any suggestions? I already ordered 2 new ones since I nearly destroyed these already, but I dont even know what else to try... I worry about a torch since I dont want to melt my cv boots I just put on.

Thanks for any help guys

 

try PB blaster... other than that i think ur gonna have to cut....

 

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that... soaked in in about a half can of that over the hour and a half I was working on it. What should I cut it with? a torch? grinder? Which part should I cut? Is the bolt face stuck on the shock mount or are the threads imbedded in the collar of the shock? I dont even know what to cut and whether cutting will just make it worse or not since I wouldnt have anything to pry or beat on... ARGH!!

 

Does the bolt spin freely? If so then it should come out.

You need to get the weight off that bolt so it will come out and should do so easily if it spins. Whether by playing with jack positions slowly or getting another set of hands to help it should not be this difficult.

Good luck.

 

Nope, it doesnt spin freely. I tried to get it to with my breaker bar, but didnt have enough room to torque it. Too much play with the adapters and extenders I had to use. One of my friends suggested locking the steering one way might get the rotor out of the way enough to get some more room... Guess I'll try that next

 

Cut the bolt on both sides of the shock (between the shock and the shock mount) with a sawzall (you might be able to do it with a mini-grinder, but sawzall would be easier). When the bolt is cut on both sides of the shock, the coil and shock (which aren't called struts on double wishbone suspension systems, by the way) should come right out. It will then be easier to pound out the 2 remaining pieces of bolt from the shock mount.

 

did you undo the 4 bolts holding the bottom ball joint just falls right out when u do http://www.4rnr.net/suspension.html

 

Not if the lower shock mount bolt is seized in the shock bushing sleeve (which is typically what happens).

 

Yeah, I understood the 4 bolts need to be taken out if you cant get the new holes lined up.... I think for now I just need a bigger hammer...