RKA

On the front suspension, when removing the bolt from the LCA to the shock body...what's the trick to getting the bolt out?

I was messing with RAD69's suspension Fri night, and we removed the front sway brackets, turned the wheel left and right to full lock, and nothing really created enough clearance to slide the bolt out. In the end, we ended up muscling the bolt out, which left us a bit nervous since we didn't have a spare bolt in the event that we chewed up the threads. We did a very slight amount of damage to the threads on the bolt, but the nut still turned on it fine so we kept going.

I still have to take apart the front suspension on my car, so I'm wondering what the trick to this is...because I just don't get it.

MikekiM@PureMS

Right adjacent to the lower ball joint on that control arm is a rectangular flat spot.

I take a large wrench on that spot and twist the control arm CCW (driver side, CW passenger side). This raises the bolt head up, and provides enough clearance to knock it out without it rubbing on the aft lower control arm, or damaging the threads.

Kris Hansen

grab the control arm on the little ramps (there are small ramp looking things cast into the arms, not sure what they are for, but they are perfect for this task), the ones near the outer end, and twist the arm, so that the top of the arm moves toward the front of the car. This will give you plenty of wiggle room to get the bolt out. You want to twist the arm only after you get the bolt out as much as you can, but don't wedge it against the rear arm.


I did it this way on DJ's, Bahn Burner's and Big Nodge's cars.. On Dave Lee's car, I didn't have to becasue the previous installer had put the bolts in from the front (which is perfectly fine as far as I can tell..)

Hope this helps!

Kris Hansen

I type too slow... ;-)

RKA

the rectangular area just outboard of the fork at the bottom of the red shock body?
<img src="https://www.audiworld.com/tech/pics/wheel28-front9.jpg">

Son of a b(&amp;*%^! That's all I had to do? We spent 30 minutes being gentle with that bolt...until frustration took over and we hammered the SOB out. :-/

Kris Hansen

Yes.

Kris Hansen

as you can see in that pic, the CV joint is in the way, but if you turn the steering, you can get the CV joint right out of the way. If you are on the left side, turn it right, right side, turn it left. Gives you a LOT more wiggle room.

RAD69

That makes perfect sense... Boy I feel dumb :-(

RKA

Ideally, you want to get a torque wrench on the nut, not on the bolt, when you torque it down to spec. Rob pointed out that it's much more accurate that way, and I agree based on the difference in effort between turning the nut vs. the bolt. If the nut facing the back of the car, you'll never get a socket/torque wrench around the nut (unless you can still twist the LCA assembly as you and Mike have suggested, which then requires a 3rd hand).

RKA

That's two of us...thanks Kris and Mike! :-)