Oh my god, these bolts are so hard to get off!! I finally got the nuts off, then I finally broke the seal on the bolts so that they spin freely inside the bushings, but they barely come out. I've tried the BFH, (although not much room to swing). They dont budge. Ive hit them plenty of times over the last couple of days with PB Blaster. The only thing I found that kind of works is: Hit it with a hammer, then try and turn it and it loosens up and moves out just a hair. Then have to hit it with a hammer again. Once again, it's tight to turn and then loosens up. I have to do this repeatedly and it moves maybe a millimeter each time. There has to be an easier way! Even tried heating it with propane torch but that doesnt seem to do anything

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41265/car/Ph...%2009%20PM.jpg

 

Is that a carriage bolt? Can you get a grinder up in there and make a square head for an adjustable wrench? Better yet, an air chisel to vibrate the bolt out (without a chisel tip of course).

 

Do you have an airhammer? That would probably knock the bolt out.

 

Woohoo I got the top bolt out! I was able to get the top one out that's on the leaf spring. I put a 10mm socket on the end of the bolt and then put my electric drill on it. I just spun it at high speed and then just give a quick push in a little until it grabbed some more. The drill would bog down for a sec and then speed back up as it kept breaking free. This took a while. Took about 30 minutes of repeating that process. Drill, push, drill push drill, push... The only problem was once the bolt was flush with the hole, then of course the socket couldn't grab.

I then took a nail set and a hammer and gave it a couple of good wacks. Once it was about half way in the bushing, it finally broke free and I was able to just pull it out.

I'm going to try the same with the bottom one tomorrow.

If I knew it was going to take this much time and effort (going on 3 days now working a couple of hours a night) I would have just paid to have it done. But I refuse to give up. Now it's just a matter of principle getting it done.

Thanks again for all the great tips and advice. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get the bottom one out. If not, I'll just cut it out since the bottom of the shackle comes with a new bushing anyway.

 

Holy crap I did it!!! After still struggling trying to get the bottom bolt out, I went to Home Depot this morning and bought a Ryobi angle grinder for $29 and $2.00 for a cutting wheel. I cut the head off the bolt (took about 20 seconds) and then I was able to take a hammer and a nail set and pound it (pretty easily) in the other direction to come out the nut side. I'm pissed at myself for not trying this sooner. Thanks to those who recommended it.

If anyone is having the same issue, I highly suggest just cutting the head off and pushing the bolt through instead of trying to pull it out. I'm guessing it's easier because the rest of the bolt is smooth and the threads are closer to the nut side. So I'm guessing it's harder to pull the bolt because you're trying to pull all those threads through the old bushing. There was much less resistance going the other way.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/41265/car/P...%2037%20AM.jpg

Done:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/41265/car/P...%2045%20AM.jpg

 

Congrats, I found the same problem you ran into when I started to do mine and saw this thread the other day, should have suggested paying to get it done, well worth it to me when I had them replaced last year. Congrats tho!