Siezed Bolt - Transmission Crossmember

[ttubw]

Hello all,

I have a 2002 Z71 tahoe with 250k miles. The factory catalytic converters have gone bad and I purchased a set of flowmaster cats and y-pipe to replace and save money by avoiding the mechanic. I was able to remove the old system, however, in order to the the old system off and the new one on, I need to remove (or at least lower) the transmission crossmember. I was able to remove the two large bolts on the passenger side but the two on the drive side are seized. I was able to remove the nuts from both and one bolt will even turn (barely), but they will not come out.

Given the fact that one of the bolts will spin, I can only believe that the issue is downward or sideways pressure on the bolt from the crossmember and/or transmission weight. I've tried jacking the transmission for support (weight relief) and jacking the crossmember at various pressures and beating the crap out the of the bolts at each change. (Oh and I have marinated the bolt in anti-seize).

The only other option I can think of is to rent an impact wrench and get the bolt spinning while beating it with a hammer.

I've been at this for a whole day and I'm about to lose it. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!

Brandon

 

[YukonXL04]

That sucks... But it sounds like you know what you need to do. The impact should get it done. But I would have thought unbolting the trans from the cross member and taking the pressure off the cross member would have worked

 

[Gzes]

Impact or cut them bastards off

 

[ttubw]

Update: so I finally got the thing loose and the new cats/y-pipe installed. It turns out that there was another nut hidden behind the metal plate where the original nut that I took off was! It basically was smashed between two pieces of metal and it was hard to tell that the first plate was not part of the crossmember but some other part. I feel like an idiot because I spent so much time beating the heck out of that thing... but I guess I got it done for $400 as opposed to $850-$1,000 at the shop! Thank you guys for the responses! Now to see if I can pass inspection and keep putting miles on this thing!

 

[Gzes]

If not then come up here we only have safety inspection