I just joined the forum and am glad to know I'm not alone in this war against the lower strut bolt. Ride is a 2007 Dakota TRX4, 3.7.

I have already successfully rebuilt most of my front end thanks to all the good info you guys have posted in here. I have already done: lower ball joints, tie rod ends, stabilizer bar end links, stabilizer bar bushings, hub/bearing assemblies, and the passenger side front strut. I bought the Monroe quick struts. passenger side went easy, Driver side...I am in the war with the lower strut bolt.

Impact gun did nothing. I put a big breaker bar on it and was able to get it to turn. Nut came off no problem. Hit it with the BFH a ton of times, finally got it to slide part way out.

Now I'm thinking I'll try an air hammer and drift to push it out. I have a 4" air cut off tool if I need to cut the bolt. Already soaked it in PB blaster.

Should I continue to soak it and just work it back and forth before trying the air hammer? I really don't want to burn the rubber bushing out, but I did order a new bolt and bushing for where it goes in the lower control arm. I am going to try making a homemade press out of a grade 8 bolt and washers, using sockets like a ball joint press to get the whole bushing out. I already returned the ball joint press to the store, and don't want to rent it again if I can avoid it.

Have any of you had success pressing that bushing out of the control arm while its still on the vehicle? I am thinking I will destroy the bushing, and since I have a new one I want to replace it.

Thanks for any tips!

Jason

 

This and the front body mounts are the two biggest pain in the **** things to work on. I had a shop do mine.

 

I may resort to going to a shop. I saved a TON of $$ by getting all my parts from RockAuto and doing 90 percent of it myself so far. I'm really trying to save $$ here and don't want to hear it from the boss lady that I'll have to spend any more money on it, lol. I'll try a few more things. I guess it'll get to a point of disassembly that I'll have to finish it myself, but right now it's all buttoned back up with one bad strut, but drivable.

 

Ok I took everything apart last night and finally got that nasty rusted strut bolt out of the bushing!!! The bushing looks like crap, I don't think its a good idea to leave it on there. I am going to rent the ball joint press again tonight after I get out of work and try to get that bushing out of the lower control arm. Have any of you done this while the control arm is still attached to the vehicle? It looks like with everything removed and tied up out of the way I should have enough room to get the press in there....am I correct or do I need to remove the LCA? Otherwise its probably torch time, but the truck is in the garage and I am a little nervous about having a big cloud of black smoke in there, lol.

 

Just a heads up. If you intend to remove the LCA, you're going to find the same problem with those bolts.

 

Thanks for the heads up Deer Hunter. I was worried about that too. Fortunately, I was able to press that strut mount bushing out with the ball joint press while the LCA was still attached. It was a royal pain, but that battle is won. I used a 4" air cutter and an air chisel to cut the flange off the old bushing so it could pass into the receiving cup of the press kit. A few cranks on the press and it popped out. Now I just have to press the new one in. It got late and I got tired, I'm going to do that in the morning. I'm just glad I didn't have to go thru the hassle of removing the entire arm.