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[924Banger]

Hi all,
In the process of swapping the torque tube on my '83 924 NA, we are removing the rear suspension. The right side is on the ground, fully disconnected, but the left side is hanging on one bolt, it's the front bolt that runs longways with the car, I'm not sure of the part's technical name. The bolt has over time become one with the sleeve in the bushing, the nut came off easy, and the bolt turns along with the sleeve, inside the rubber.

This definitely isn't a unique issue, so if anyone has come across this, any advice would be much appreciated.
I'd prefer to keep the bolt intact, if that didn't matter as much we'd cut the head off and attack from there.

Currently, options are:
Cut bolt head off and thread or hammer out
Hire the biggest rattle gun we can find
Detach the rest of the suspension from that?

This is the only thing holding us up putting the car back together, and would be really good to be able to get it back on the road soon. Been far too long.
Cheers
_________________
Jack
'83 924 NA RHD
'88 944 Turbo S Silver Rose RHD (Dad's)
UK

[924RACR]

Since it's a through-bolt, you'd need to cut both ends off...

If the sleeve is spinning in the rubber bushing, sounds like you'll need to replace the busing too.

Normally we'd be next thinking about applying heat... but with the sleeve spinning in the rubber, not sure that's likely to be helpful.

If you cut the head off, then you'd have a chance to pound the shank of the bolt forwards in the car; maybe then that would break the sleeve from the bolt, and you could remove the shank of the bolt rearward.

I'd probably go that route; in addition to a thorough soaking with penetrating oil, cut the head off, hammer the shank forward to free it from the bushing and sleeve, then reverse the motion and remove it out the backside.
_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 ITB racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[924Banger]

[Rasta Monsta]

Best penetrant is acetone and ATF, 50/50. Works when PB Blaster fails.
_________________
Toofah King Bad

• WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3

[kondzi]

When everything else fails, heat is your friend. However it needs to be glowing hot to work.
_________________
---
Konrad
'89 951 US
'88 Mustang 5.0 LX Convertible (factory specs)
'84 911 Carrera 3.2 RoW (factory specs)
'81 931 RoW (TBD)
'81 Ford Capri 2.8i (factory specs)
'79 Ford Capri 2.9 (heavily modded)

[924Banger]

Thanks all, but nothing else worked, we decided to separate it from the rest of the suspension.
This revealed another seized bolt, one of the four holding it on, top right if you look from the outside of the car. Standing on the crowbar and wiggling the suspension for long enough gave me the gap to get a hacksaw blade in, that took a while. Broke it free, dropped the suspension, and that allowed drill access to the original bolt.
Pilot hole, larger hole, larger hole, larger hole, dremel/grind style attachment, as we didn't have a 12mm. Got as far as we could, then tried hammering again, still no luck. Bought a 12mm bit, and drilled it out completely.
Now that was out we could drill out the other seized bolt that I cut.
New bushes, new bolts, it's going back together.
It couldn't have fought much harder, but glad to have this over with, any questions welcome, and thanks again.
_________________
Jack
'83 924 NA RHD
'88 944 Turbo S Silver Rose RHD (Dad's)
UK

[Mike9311]

At least its over and you are past this thing! Congrats
_________________
1980 931 since 1989
1981 Ideola 931 Club Sport
1982 931 Entwicklungsfahrzeug
1979 924 NA ohne 650 mit 471
1982 931 Red Resurrection - 951 IC
1982 931 parts car / resurrection?
1980 924 NA (R&D lightweight)
1982 931 wana-be GTR race car