Frontend suspension and steering teardown debacle

[rockola1971]

2005 Yukon Denali AWD--Started tearing down frontend for complete suspension and steering rebuild. Ball joints, control arm bushings, stabilizer links, idler and pitman arm, wheel hubs, and tie rods. Removed steering knuckles and replaced hubs with ease. Here is what I found collectively after I got to a stopping point because of need for parts. Upper control arm mounting bolts are special for your caster/camber and are frozen inside metal sleeve of control arm bushings. They will not break free. Nuts came right off. They will have to be cut off with a sawzall or a torch. Not stocked around me. Dorman part #13512. They are $3.83 each on Rockauto and $10 and up each if you find them at your local auto parts place. So be sure to order 4 if you plan on removing the upper control arm. (2 each side). I also found the stabilizer links completely frozen up. Passenger side was actually missing its nut and the bolt would not slide out of bushings and sleeve. The corrosion literally fused it all together enough to keep the stabilizer bar attached and operational on that side! Plan on using a cutoff tool or sawzall on these too. Midwest road salt to thank for all of this. I also found lower ball joints were swaged from the top to keep them installed in the lower control arm.
What I've bought so far (Not including tools):
Upper/Lower Ball Joints
Inner/Outer Tie Rods
Upper control arm with new bushings (ball joint already installed)
Lower control arm bushings
Idler and mount and Pitman Arm
Stabilizer link kits
Wheel Hubs

 

[rockola1971]

Ok after wasting alot of time messing with the upper control arm bolts ive found that a sawzall isnt going to cut it. Next weekend we are getting a oxy acetylene torch to take care of them bastards. I cutout the stabilizer links that were frozen.

 

[subieworx]

I recently ran into the same issue on my 03. I lowered it and wanted to install some SPC offset camber bushings in the upper arms. Ended up having to torch and cut the factory bolts out. Too a couple hours but got it done. Also make sure you buy new pins for the adjusters as I broke a couple in the process of removing the bolts.

 

[95escahoe]

Following this gonna do the same


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[fresh350]

Unfortunately this is all par for the course... I've spent half a lifetime beating/heating/cutting/torching frozen bolts out of bushings haha. Just do yourself a favor and coat the hell out of the new bolts with anti-seize. You will be thankful down the road with alignments and/or changing parts. And get and adjustment point with it too.

 

[rockola1971]

Upper Control arm bolts were cut out with a torch. Everything went fairly smooth. Heres a tip on lower control arm bushing removal. Remove lower arm from truck and then Light them with a torch and walk away. THe rubber burns away and the remnants of the bushings just fall out. Clean up is a snap for preparing to install the new ones in the control arm. Apparently there are around 4 different possible sizes of bushings for the stabilizer bar.(Different diameters of stabilizer bar available).