i can't get the bolt on the front of the spring out (the one closer to the engine...) it is in there good and I can't get any good leverage to push it or pull it out.
Any thought?!?!?!?

 

penitrating oil and time

 

cold beer and LOTS or cursing maybe a die grinder...bad memorys..glad its over..think root canal.

 

I used the edge of a 7" angle grinder to cut the bolts (but I ruined the springs, which I planned to replace anyway). A sawzall probably would have been easier, safer, faster and saved the springs.

The bolt is rusted to the sleeve inside the bushing. You probably won't get it out, except with penetrating oil, time, cold beer and lots of cursing.

 

I rented a sawzall the other day. It was $10 for a day. Had to buy another $10's worth of blades.

Go for it...

 

I had the same problem earlier this year.
I made a device (hereafter called the gizmo) to push the bolt out of the spring.
The gizmo will basically fit between the lower lip of the rocker panel (I think that’s the right name for the panel) & the bolt and as you make the gizmo longer it will push the bolt out of its mount.
I went to Lowes and bought a coupling nut (it was either 3/8 or 7/16 I think). I also bought a handful of bolts of various lengths the same thread size as the nut & a couple of short lengths of threaded rod (about 3 & 4�long).
I tried various length bolts in each end of the coupling nut until the gizmo would fit snuggly between the panel & end of spring bolt. Then as you hold the nut still, you will unscrew the bolts from the nut, thus making the gizmo longer and thus pushing the bolt out of the spring. Every time you screw one of the bolts all the way out of the coupling nut you just replace it with the next longer bolt & do it all over again
When the end of the spring bolt gets flush with the frame rail, you will have to remove a bolt from one end of gizmo & replace it with a piece of the threaded rod. The rod should be small enough that it will go through the bolt hole & keep pushing the spring bolt out. Took about 10 minutes to get the bolt out and it pushed out fairly easy.
I hope this made sense. If not I can post some pictures in the morning of the gizmo.

 

I tried the sawz-all, didnt have much success. I ended up using an air chisel, and 6" grinder. And of course the above mentioned "lots of beer and cursing". Good luck.

 

Sawzall, about 20 blades that I snapped te end off of so the tip wouldn't hit, 2 evenings, a four letter word about eery 2 minutes... Didn't ruin the spring, but I getting new ones anyway.

 

I used a 6.5" cutting wheel and barely got it, so I dunno how he got the 6" to work!

A sawzaw would be 100x better though. Not only is it going to allow better access to the stuck bolt, but your not going to have a "hot rain of molten rubber" sprayed up your arm when you hit the rubber bushing. Not fun...

 

Here is the link that shows what I was talking about.
A picture is worth a thousand words.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/3...ial/spring.htm

By the way, the passengers side leaf bolt, I had to use this pushing method to get it out.
When I did thedrivers sideleaf spring, that bolt came right out by hand. Almost made me mad because I wanted to use the gizmo again.