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Seized bolts

Grrr

Why do I start tinkering when the weather turns cold and the rain starts pouring?

Car: 95 2.0 LS Cavalier, DOHC

Okay, bloke at work said replacing rear-shocks was a piece of the old proverbial. Convinced me no-end that DIY was better than a quik-fitup job. Fine, says I, and goes out to buy replacement shocks, torque wrench (another thread) and a reasonable 1/2 socket set (since TW was 1/2, and my old set was 3/8). Shopping trip later extended to some new, larger spanners, when I realised that the sockets were no good for the first part of the job. So far, DIY has cost rather more than Quik-Fitup had quoted, but I hope to have gained some tools and no small amount of bloody experience.

To the problem at hand...

FINALLY, managed to get the nut off the top of the shock on the left hand side - the one that is exposed (the other being behind the trim for the emergency 1st aid box). Noted that this nut was one of those "deformed" style (i.e. oval inner bore) rather than a Nyloc. Hell of a bugger to get off when gripping the top of the shock-absorber arm/piston/threaded-bar whatever its called.

Switched my attention to the right-hand on, opened the trim access hole, and blow-me, the bugger's seized to the shock arm/piston/threaded-bar ("bar" from now on) thing. Lots of WD-40 later, and the night setting in, all I've managed to do is round the edges off the flats at the top of the bar, and not shifted the self-locking nut one iota (oh, also stripped no small amount of skin from myself in the process). I've attacked it with a wire brush and left it soaking in WD-40 overnight with the threat of the same treatment tomorrow.

So my question is this:

Is there an obvious way to unlock these self-locking nuts, especially when corroded onto the thread of the bolt running through them?

My options at the moment seem to be:-

1) Repeat of today (not sure if my palms will stand up to that again) 2) Try cutting a slot in the top of the "bar" and use a flat-bladed screwdriver to stop this turning whilst the nut is turned (this will weaken the bar) 3) Try heat-cycling it with a small gas torch. The girlfriend has already "expressed her concerns", lets say, over me trying this. 4) Angle-grind the bastard off. I've erm. already measured the angle-grinder up - I can see me losing a bit of the interior trim from the boot doing this, and maybe a finger or two. 5) Drill the bastard off (but access is severely limited by interior trim) 6) Hacksaw it off - access is limited so I would have to use a bare blade - I can see this taking rather a long time to complete. 7) Give up and take to Quik-Fitup. Cost to date (including tools) is rising to about £130, they've quoted £80 for the whole job. Total sum would be rather expensive for rear shocks.

Note: No access to welding gear, before someone suggests welding a spanner to it.

Any further suggestions?

Kind regards

Mike Dodd.

Reply to
Mike Dodd
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Snipped tale of woe.

I'm presuming the shock rotates when you try to unscrew the nut? (long time since I changed a shock). Do you have such thing as a stilson? Cos if so it might be easier to wedge an open ended onto the nut and try to unscrew the shock with the stilson, given that you're throwing it away anyway. An open ended should grip the flats rather than the corners and you can use the boot trim to stop the spanner rotating with the gf's help.

-- Malc

Reply to
Malc

Use a hacksaw - cut the nut from the top, really close to the thread. You'll get to the stage where you have cut off one side of the nut, and the rest should turn OK.

BUT surely you have a nut that holds the shock in place, and a thin locknut that simply goes above this ....

I've only done this job once, it took 30 mins per side including jacking, and cleaning and waxoiling around the top mounting. '95 Cavalier 1.8 but I think you have a different suspension setup on the 2 litre?

angle-grinder

Reply to
Richard Murphy

Nope, one single nut, and that's a bugger of a deformed self locking bar-steward. You're right about the different rear suspension, though, forget the terminlogy that is used but rather than one beam across the rear axles there's two "partial" or something arms. Need to look at Mr Haynes again.

Cutting down through the nut?, I'd have though cutting across the nut would be easier, especially with an angle grinder.

Reply to
Mike Dodd

Maybe a nut splitter would do the job. I don't know how accessible the shock shaft is under the mounting, but if you can get some Stillsons on the shaft itself, or even a hefty Mole wrench, it will leave the nut clear for a decent socket. Don't forget, it doesn't matter how much damage the Stillsons cause to the shaft. You're chucking the shock anyway. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

A nut splitter would, indeed, do the job, I'd considered attacking it with a lump hammer and cold chisel, but I think a hacksaw blade might be cleaner.

As far as Stillsons go - tried an adjustable, a set of pipe-grips (not ideal) and belting a 7mm spanner over the top of it, to varying *lack of* degrees of success. Believe me - I've gripped the shaft pretty hard to date (hmmmm, best re-phrase that later).

Thanks for the info, however, it seems that an aggresive, destructive approach might well work.

Regards

Mike Dodd

Reply to
Mike Dodd

If going for the chisel approach then drill first to weaken the nut and then split with the chisel.

Vin.

Reply to
Vin

Stillsons are unique, in that as long as they get a good initial 'bite' on a shaft, they'll grip tighter than any siezed or tight nut. A very useful tool if damage to the gripped component doesn't matter. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Nut splitter or a dremel are the easiest options.

Reply to
DuncanWood

That reminds me. You'd be surprised at how quickly something like a Black and Decker belt sander can remove metal. Can't recall it's specific name, but it has a small 1/2" wide belt sticking out, running on a roller. A bit like a little chain saw.:-) It would grind the nut away complete with the thread on the shock, and easier to use than a Dremel saw. A very useful tool IMO. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

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