Removing my upper and lower control arms on the rear axle. I started this project tonight. A couple of these are at ridiculous angles/spots and I'm not sure what to do. The upper control arm where it connects to the frame, right against the body of the car. It connects at an angle to begin with, and besides that there's a couple of brake lines (I think they're brake lines) that run right in front of the nut. It's incredibly tight and difficult to get to. Before I start the trial and error stuff, I want to make sure that there's not something I'm missing here. Is there a special wrench or way of getting a wrench in that spot so I can pull the bolt out of there? And once I get that nut off, what do I use to pop that bolt off? There is no room to bang on it, I suspect I need a pry bar to pull that bolt out. Also, the lower control arm where it connects to the frame, the bolt goes through the frame and control arm. The bolt head is hidden in the frame, the nut is accessible from the outside of the control arm. My best guess is that I use the hole in the frame to put a deep well socket in there to hold the bolt head whilst loosening the bolt, and then pull it through the frame. Is that correct? Finally, is there a certain way I should take these out? Upper first, or lower first? Does it matter? I have to take the shock off to get at the control arm bolts on the upper arm, that's got to come off first I suspect. Thanks! Tom
Im not sure what your experience is, so forgive me if I ask you a series of stupid questions- You do know that the front spring is under a tremendous amount of pressure and by removing the control arm, your going to release that pressure right? Front springs are potentially fatal is not handled correctly. If your not familiar with removing springs, get someone there to help you who is and can walk you through the correct procedure to remove and reinstall them. Please be careful. Your going to need a ball joint separator, aka pickle fork to remove the ball joint end of the control arm from the spindle. The upper control arm bolts are knurled and kind of pressed into the frame. There are no special tools for that one. Wrench off the nuts. The bolt head is not hidden. You can access it. The upper may not come out unless you remove the bolts. A large, MF prybar might work to press them out. Front end work is a PITA and I genderally refer to it as "grunt work". I assume your going to replace the bushings?
Sorry, I forgot to write that I'm doing the rears. My bad. I know that front end is under pressure, I'm not even ready to start on that though. I'm replacing the bushings, that's why I'm pulling the control arms off the back. Otherwise I'd just stick the new springs and shocks on and call it a day. But the bushings on there now are pretty bad.
ooops.. my bad. A good set of wrenches and maybe a set of impact swivel sockets. An impact wrench comes in handy. Yes, the bolts arent that easy to get to. It helps if the rear suspension is fully relaxed
And yes, theres a hole in the frame for an extension and a socket to fit. Bolt comes out through the hole. Ive done that job more times than I care to remember.
So I should let the axle relax and hang while taking those bolts off? I was supporting it by the hub with a jack. Thanks for looking out for me with the front end advice. :grin: Should I loosen the bolts that hold the brake lines in place and pull them out of the way? I don't want to start tearing things apart but I figured that pulling those bolts would give me some slack on the lines. I'm using the impact wrench and I soaked the heck outta the bolts with PB Blaster for a couple days before starting this.
2 more quickie questions. 1. Do I/should I disconnect the brake lines? 2. My springs are seated so that on the top of the spring, the end is oriented to the front of the car. The manual says it should be oriented to the rear of the car. It's basically the opposite as what the manual calls for. Does it matter?
You may need to disconnect the brake hose from the rear axle unless the axle will be supported in such a way that it can't be allowed to rotate or drop when the arms are removed. You have a little room in the flex hose for movement but if you have the body raised so the suspension is fully extended, there will be little flex left and any movement of the axle when the arms are removed could break or weaken a line. I don't like to disturb brake lines unless its necessary so you'll just have to evaluate the risks mentioned above which ever method you are using. I personally would not let the axle hang while you are removing the arms. It should be supported. I don't think the orientation of the rear springs are that important. The fronts are more important because of the angle of the lower control arm. If you are 100% certain they have never been removed, I'd put them back in the same way they came out. If there is a possibility they have been replaced, reinstall according to the manual. Be sure to replace the upper coil spring insulators as well.
i would assume that u have the rear of the car on jack stands. if u do one control arm at a time, the axle will rotate very little and a tapered punch can be used to realign the holes, but u will have to support the axle with a jack. i removed the whole rear axle assembly and that was a bitch re-installing to insert the last bolt.
Not exactly. maybe a bad choice of words. The rear suspension should be at most of its travel. It tends to give you a bit more room to work. You should have a pair of jackstands supporting the frame and a second set supporting the rear axle. Your going to need a 5th jack stand on the snount of the axle to prevent it from rotating and putting tension on the rubber brake flex line as the other Jason suggested. For all intents and purposes, your basically pulling the rear from the car. When you reinstall the control arms, the bolts need to be tightened with the suspension "loaded", with the full weight of the car on the springs. You dont want to pre-load the bushings
X2 - Just went thru this on an A body. You can undo the bolt that holds the brake line"T" on top of the center section which will give you a little more flex for the brake line hose. I used a snowmobile type jack which gave the rear much needed stability. It was very easy to remove and replace all 8 bolts with that jack. See if any of your buddies have one you can borrow! My 2 cents: When you replace the arms leave the springs out until you have all the bolts started. That way you are not fighting the spring pressure and you have a little more room for the wrenches. The springs should go back in easily and then bolt the shocks in to hold it together. Also, note that the nuts have a lower torque spec, so tightening those is easier when laying on your back twisted like a prezel! - Bill
I have the rear on jack stands(as well as 2 stacks of tires under the bumper as back up just in case). I put the rear axle under a jack to support the axle at the wheel hub. I'm only doing one side at a time so I don't end up pulling the whole rear axle off. Should I support the axle at the differential as well, or am I good? I'm just going to loosen the brake line brackets so I can get into that nut, not disconnect anything. I think I can manage that. I want to limit the amount of stuff I pull off the car at any one time, otherwise I'll get in trouble. As far as the springs go, the manual shows them in there 2 different ways so I don't think it matters either. I'm going to put them back in the way they came out. Twisted like a pretzel lying on my back is the truth. Thanks for your help. Now there's just doing the grunt work. On a side note, when I got the car last year the exhaust was in bad shape. The one pipe left on the car ended at the rear axle on the passenger side and it was just spewing exhaust toward the axle and rear of the car. I drove it exactly once then put it in the shop to work on. Crawling under the car, that whole axle on that side is carboned up, as well as the corner of the gas tank from that exhaust. I can't believe the guy that owned it before me ran it like that. And I'm glad I had it shipped here. I originally thought to fly to ND and drive it back, the seller claimed it would make it no problems. Yeah, right.
I got the driver's side taken off. The hardest part was getting the bolts and nuts off the top mount for the shock. I almost cut a hole in the trunk to get at it, but persevered and took my time. Reaching up above the mounting area to get at the nuts for those bolts was a bitch, and I couldn't do that and undo the bolts at the same time. Not a contortionist. That nut up against the frame had gas lines running in front of it, but that was actually not that hard to get at. The bolt that goes through the frame was the easiest. The machine shop I take my stuff to said they'd pop the old bushings out and clean up the control arms for me. I'm going to paint them and put in the new bushings myself, I think. I'm going to try to clean up the areas they mount to as well and throw a coat of paint on those spots as well. The biggest problem with that is all that red clay that coats the underside of this car. It's on there as thick as 1/2 inch in some spots. Thanks for all the tips and help! BTW, if I want to replace these nuts and bolts, what's my best bet? Any special grade or material to look for?
"BTW, if I want to replace these nuts and bolts, what's my best bet? Any special grade or material to look for?" Try to keep the originals. Clean them and keep them. They are grade 8 but also have a special shape you will not find in a store. You can order them repro from Ground Up or other sellers, or someone on the board may have good OEM ones. Not sure why you took the top shock mount off - not really necessary to pull the contol arms but will give you more room. The bushings are not that easy to put in without special tools. You may want to consider having the shop do that too after you clean and paint them. Do not paint the holes however... A trick I use to clean the underside is to lay a clear plastic bag (like the dry cleaners use for shirts) over your face and upper body. You just drape it over you, keeps the dirt off and you can see what you are doing too. - Bill
The bolts have some pretty severe wear marks in them, I don't believe these have ever been changed. I'd like to put something new on there instead of these old ones. I know what you mean about the shape/size. I will search around for replacements. I'm replacing the shocks and springs too while I got everything apart, so they had to come off anyways. But to get to that upper control arm bolt the shock had to come off, the bolt was directly behind that shock. Thinking about having the control arms powder coated.
Did GM use the same bolts for all their cars, or are they body specific? Can I use the bolts Ground Up sells for a frame cars? Thanks
