Broken camber bolt, HELP!

[pdxyukon]

What a nightmare, was able to cut through the bushing and through the camber bolt with the sawzall and a diablo carbide blade after ruining 3 bimetal blades trying to cut the end of the bolt off

 

[pdxyukon]

Do I need to remove the struts to get the bolts in / out or is there a trick to getting the new bolts in and old ones out when the strut spring is in the way?

 

[pdxyukon]

I am so very glad that here in the PNW, we do not have to deal with the rust I see here.

unfortunately I'm in the Northwest but Power Chevrolet screwed me over and sold me the truck for 24k with severe undercarriage corrosion, lesson learned about thouroughly checking vehicle before purchasing for a high dollar. worst part is it had a clean carfax until randomly damage report appeared while they had it in their shop for repairs. Lesson 2 avoid the Power dealershits

 

[ivin74]

That bolt doesn't turn that much. It's flat on the sides to fit into the alignment cams and rotate them a bit up/down. The nut on the end is what spins 360

Fyi,
That bolt does turn 360 degrees, you just have to get the alignment washer out off the cam out.

 

[gooffeyguy]

Fyi,
That bolt does turn 360 degrees, you just have to get the alignment washer out off the cam out.

Well yeah, lol

 

[pdxyukon]

Got the sucker out, when putting the new one in the front bracket has almost a quarter inch gap between the bushing and bracket I'm thinking I must have bent the bracket or something?

 

[pdxyukon]

 

[OR VietVet]

Yep, is bent. It will suck down when you tighten.

 

[Geotrash]

Yep, is bent. It will suck down when you tighten.

+1. Mine was similar on my 2007 even though I didn't have any rust or difficulty getting the bolt out. It feels like you're pinching those ears together too much when you finally reach the torque spec but that's just how it is.

 

[Sam Harris]

Here is my "shít bird" way of doing it.

You need to cut off the bolt head too, cut it flush to the alignment shim. Then use a large pry bar to bend the bracket ears far enough apart to get a sawzall blade onto the bolt shaft itself on one or both sides. You can always beat them back straight again with the hammer/prybar. (Be careful not to pop out the locating pins/dowels for the alignment plates in this process.) You MAY get enough room to just cut one side of the bolt shaft out and wiggle it out the rest of the way.

I highly recommend using a cutting blade on a grinder, OR your sawzall blades to cut the main part of the a-arm out of the way to give you more room to work those busing pieces out. That will also give you more wiggle room instead of being one rigid piece to fight and work around.

Once you get the a-arm out, a tapered pry bar fits perfect in the bolt hole to help bend back. Don't bother trying to cut through the bushing. The part you circled in blue is not the frame it is the bushing sleeve. The frame part is all flat.

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