Rear Toe Adjust Frozen...

[BlackFrog]

94 Del Sol. Did an alignment last week, and though my rear toe is close enough to not wear tires, that pesky bolt is frozen in the hole, and it bothers me. Im not gonna put an impact gun on that tiny bolt and try to break them free (probably will break) And since its a captured nut inside the frame i cant even heat up the nut to get it free. Short of cutting a hole in the floor of the car to gain access, anyone got any tricks or ideas how to get that sucker free without breaking the bolt?

 

[ricksautomotive]

i'm guessin you have tried liquid wrench or a rust eater spray and let it soak a while? i cant picture the bolt youre talkin about and my diagrams dont show a bolt in a hole. just the adjuster bolt on the compensator arm. i cant see how that is in a hole or why with enough leverage you cant get it free. i could be looking at the wrong one but maybe you can post a pic or maybe you are trying to turn the wrong one. it has been about 10 years since i have done an alignment myself in a shop but i only had issues when alighning vehicles that had been in wrecks. pics would definately help. heres what i'm lookin at in the next post

 

[ricksautomotive]

 

[BlackFrog]

yeah thats the bolt. It threads into the body of the car i believe, totally captured

 

[ricksautomotive]

now i remember LOL damn i didnt think that could happen. so how about the spray i mentioned? have you tried any? what kind of wrench or socket you using? is it a 6-point? the nut of it should be easy to get leverae on ant just turn it. if its gonna break off with an impact you will break it off with a wrench also but the wrench might jet the bolt lose before it snaps under harsh force by the impact

 

[BlackFrog]

oh yeah, its been soaked. The spray doesnt get on the the end of the bolt it needs to soak. My tools are unfortunately not the issue. Blue Point 6 points. Ive been a Tech for almost 10 years, I know how it feels when a bolt is going to break, and Im not gonna test it on a customers car, let alone my own to see how far you can lean on that tiny 14mm bolt. Ive seen my share of newbies put a gun on those things and strip or break em off.

This just popped in my head. Maybe its not the bolt thats locked up, but the bolt being locked into the bushing. If been meaning to get Poly bushings for a while, wonder if torching out that bushing would free up the bolt....

PS you being in Cali and me in CT you guys dont see half the corrosion and rust related issues that we come across out here. Its a whole nother ball game out here my friend

 

[efhondakid]

Leave that one be and slot out the one in the trailing arm if you need to move it a little.

 

[BlackFrog]

thats a damn good idea

 

[ricksautomotive]

oh yeah, its been soaked. The spray doesnt get on the the end of the bolt it needs to soak. My tools are unfortunately not the issue. Blue Point 6 points. Ive been a Tech for almost 10 years, I know how it feels when a bolt is going to break, and Im not gonna test it on a customers car, let alone my own to see how far you can lean on that tiny 14mm bolt. Ive seen my share of newbies put a gun on those things and strip or break em off.

This just popped in my head. Maybe its not the bolt thats locked up, but the bolt being locked into the bushing. If been meaning to get Poly bushings for a while, wonder if torching out that bushing would free up the bolt....

PS you being in Cali and me in CT you guys dont see half the corrosion and rust related issues that we come across out here. Its a whole nother ball game out here my friend

no i seen youre in ct. i have a place in columbia SC and i work on fire sprinkler pipe up and down the east coast as a hobby. i seen your east coast rust on cars and in the sprinkler pipe systems i build. yeah fire sprinkler systems is a hobby for when i wanna get away from cali for a while. i love the east coast but cali is home for me and i run ricks automotive when i'm here. my family takes over if i go MIA so the east coast. the rust eater i was taliking about i havent seen it anywhere in a while...like 10 years maybe, that stuff was great. i forgot what it was called but it wasnt liquid wrench

 

[8secHonda]

cant go wrong w some pb blaster lol.. love that stuff....

 

[B16]

This just popped in my head. Maybe its not the bolt thats locked up, but the bolt being locked into the bushing. If been meaning to get Poly bushings for a while, wonder if torching out that bushing would free up the bolt....

I have the exact same problem on my del sol; my del sol came from the east coast so it has cancer too.

My buddy who is a honda mechanic suggested the same thing; it is probably frozen to the bushing. I haven't tried torching yet as I don't have a torch. Please try it and let me know how it goes, I HAVE to do mine soon.

 

[B16]

got into mine today. the metal sleeve on the bushing is frozen to the bolt. unscrewed some, but not sure how to break from sleeve...

 

[K2e2vin]

If you already soaked it, etc. then impact may be your best bet. From my experience you're more likely to break the bolt using hand tools/constant torque than impact/shocking the bolt loose.

 

[B16]

I'm willing to bet his issue is the bushing as well. I searched H-T and this appears to be a fairly common problem.

 

[BlackFrog]

Bummer. havent had a chance to try and torch or impact it yet. My bet would be also that its frozen on the metal sleeve in the bushing, very common in this part of the country. I jjust dont want to find out the hard way and strip out the threads in the frame... since im down to one vehicle after selling my truck i dont have the luxury of letting the car sit for a while anymore. One of these days i'll try shocking it with the impact and see if I can get the damn thing free...

 

[B16]

Sawzall is a bitch to cut this bolt... I think I'm going to borrow my buddies plasma cutter.

 

[mr tom]

Me too!

I just read your thread on your Honda Del Sol rear supension bolt freeze.

I have the same problem on my 1995 Del Sol Si. The right rear toe can not be adjusted because th bolt is frozen.

Did you ever resolve that problem?

Also. I am not sure which bolt it is. I am just going on what Firestone said today.

I would like to try myself.

My toe is off by .05.

Hope you get this reply.

Best regards,

mr tom / Colorado