Fellow members,

I am in teardown mode in preparation for a Hotchkis TVS 2 suspension installation.

Given my 1967 Coupe is nearly original you can imagine removing the old leaf springs has been a bear.

I was able to remove the rear shackles and urethane bushings however on the front connection of the leaf spring I can only break the nuts loose on the bolts but I cannot get the bolts to back out of the frame pocket (note the bolts are spinning which is a good sign). in an effort to create a bit more room I plasma cut the leaf springs out of the vehicle and the only remaining part is the rolled steel and internal bushing and of course the siezed bolts.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to remove these? The only possible way is to pull them inboard to the center of the vehicle since the nuts are on the outboard side.

I had the idea to cut off the hex heads on each bolt. Then using a punch, punch the bolt outboard and cut off the bolt before it hits the body of the car to remove it. The other idea I had was to weld a hex nut on to the existing hex head and using a slide hammer, hammer the bolt inboard to try to remove siezed bolts.

What say you?

 

I'd go the slide hammer route.

 

I had the same issue with mine. I sprayed break free into the openings every day for a week and just let it soak in real good. The you take a BFH and knock them out. They didn't budge initially but after soaking they came out very easy after a couple of hits.