The Rover-Landers of BC

Hi,

I'm doing the rear trailing arm bushing on my 1988 Range Rover. The left one, which was really worn out, came apart and went back together fairly easy. So I'm now on to the right one, specifically where the trailing arm attaches to the rear axle. After much trying to get the bolt loose I opted for the same method I had to use on the left side, a sawzall cutting through the nut and bolt on the outside end. After 20 minutes of cutting the nut is now off.

My expectation then was that the bolt would wriggle out quite freely like the left side did. However, this is not the case. Instead, it won't turn until I take an 18" long breaker bar and turn it using my floor jack as a lever — way harder than I could turn by hand. But after moving it about a half turn it looks like what's really happening is the inner bushing is frozen to the bolt and I'm now rotating the rubber between inner and outer bushings.

So, crap! I don't really want to apply heat yet, as it will just burn the rubber, make a big stink, and it isn't likely to free up the sleeve from the bolt as its gonna be too tight a space to heat up the right surface.

I was considering sawzalling the head off the bolt and trying to drive it through, or maybe stripping the end of the axle, including wheel, brakes, hub to give me better access to drive it through with a punch, but that's alot of tearing apart for just a stubborn bolt, and it may not come out with a punch anyway.

I'm soaking it overnight with penetrating oil. But if anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears.

Thanks, guys.

Hi, Dave

I don't know if this is practical, but for siezed interference fit pins used in aerospace, we drill out the center of the bolt enough that we cam put a punch down the middle. The punch has to be smaller that the hole so the bolt can collapse a bit as you drive it out.

Personally, I haven't tried it on anything this big

Cheers, Roger

If you cant rotate it it probably wont punch out? you need to get it rotating and free a bit so it can be punched out?

I know you dont want heat but it sounds like you have to. heat the bolt head as much as you can ( the heat will dissipate to the shaft of the bolt slowly) just until you see some smell and smoke starting( dont have to torch it right up, although i would), pull off the torch and quickly put the wrench on it. it should start to spin. keep spinning it until it cools and the cooled rubber will become brittle and as you turn it it will give way.

or use a 10pound sledge on your wrench to shock the bolt loose instead of constant torque pressure with the jack.

Hello Dave, You just run your saw down either side of the bush, between the axle casing and the bush/trailing arm. The arm drops from the vehicle and you can work on it on the bench. I run a rotary burr around each side of the rubber and the centre falls out. Run your saw carefully down the outer jacket and bang out with a drift. Hope this helps, Steven.

Hi Steven, and the rest. Thanks for the tips!

I was thinking of trying Steven's method this morning on the opposite end of the bolt from where I cut off the nut last night. I'll give it a go after a coffee or two.

cheers, Dave

An hour out there, and an angle-grinder with a very thin cutoff blade and the job's done. Just be careful with having good thick gloves, eye protection and a fire extinguisher close at hand if you do this yourself as an angle grinder doesn't always like cutting an inset hole and can come loose and jump all over the place. I've learned that previously and it worked well this time.

Thanks for getting me on the right track, Steve.

I then went to the bench and used a combination of a broken drill bit to ream out the rubber, and the sawzall to cut two cuts through the outer bush, followed by a little heat and a chisel and out it came with no problem.

Now to the big nut on the other end... I think I need a bigger tool! :oops:

Dave

Dave wrote:Now to the big nut on the other end... I think I need a bigger tool! :oops:

LOL, I was on the end of a 6 foot snipe on one of mine. It was good exercise.