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I am putting front lower control arms in my '09 SS. As luck would have it, rust is torturing me again. The rearward bolt for the LCA is the subframe bolt. Lo and behold, the nut on top of this bolt started spinning in its captive brace from heavy rust (it's held in the subframe with some sheet metal encasing it, to keep it from spinning). I need to remove the sway bar to get in the nook to try and vise-grip the nut. How does the sway bar come out of the car without lowering the subframe? I removed the sway bar links and frame bushings, but the bar has several bends in it that look impossible to remove. Do I have to take out the rack and pinion first? Downpipe? Any tips?
For whatever it's worth...I have the oversized sway bar made by Eibach (it's the larger OD that comes standard in the base model).
Are you dealing with the drivers side? I just had same issue with my 2011, I inserted a screwdriver into the cage and tapped it with a hammer to wedge it in and then manually turned the bolt. I sprayed liberal amounts of penetrating oil on the bolt threads and let them soak .
The bottom of the cage The top of the cage Drivers side, I moved the sway bar enough to get the screwdriver in between the cage and the nut, this is the drivers side This is the passenger side, thanks to fastsuv for these photos!
Oddly, the Mitchell's manual says nothing about lowering the subframe. It says the bar should come out from the right wheel well. I can't see how that's possible, but Mitchell's seems to think it can be done.
Originally Posted by Oldblue
Are you dealing with the drivers side? I just had same issue with my 2011, I inserted a screwdriver into the cage and tapped it with a hammer to wedge it in and then manually turned the bolt. I sprayed liberal amounts of penetrating oil on the bolt threads and let them soak .
Yes it is the driver's side that I'm fighting with. I will try to shift the sway bar and get in there. If not, I think the rack and downpipe will be coming out to get the upper hand on this mess.
My steering rack and swaybar came out the left or driver’s side of Oldblue, 2007 2.2 LS. Rack first , then the swaybar, but it’s not necessary in this case
What a fiasco! Finally got the bolt out. I tried jamming a chisel or screwdriver in there like @Oldblue suggested. No dice. Downpipe had to come out. Rear transmission mount next. Steering rack next (out left side). Sway bar last (out right side). Still getting to the spinning nut was quite difficult with fuel and brake lines nearby. My son and I fought all day getting this bolt out. With tight vise-grips (I actually ruined the pair from too much tension), dentist mirror, lots of penetrating oil, and even my tiny brazing torch (smaller flame gave me more control in the tight area instead of my big cutter torch), it finally came out. Ugh! What a chore! Now the question is...
How do I re-capture the nut in its cage for future work? With everything apart, it's not hard to hold the nut with vise-grips to assemble everything back together. But if I ever need that bolt out again, I'm going to have a problem. Moreover, I am taking the car for an alignment after my whole job is done. I don't know if the subframe is loosened and shifted during the alignment. If so, that technician doing the alignment will have a problem. Do you have any tips about how to re-capture this nut in its mangled cage?
Last edited by m_ridzon; Jul 25, 2020 at 09:12 PM.
