Removing trailing arm without breaching brake system?

Since my driver's side TAB is frozen in the trailing arm, I'm almost certain to have to cut the bolt and pull the whole trailing arm off to remove it. This looks relatively simple except for the fact that the hard brake line runs along the trailing arm and through a fitting. Is there any trick that would allow me to pull the trailing arm without having to unhook that line and then deal with bleeding the system again after putting it back together, or is there just no way to get around it?

Thanks!

Disconnect the trailing arm from the rear hub. There is enough movement with the brake line still attached. If you are in that much trouble disconnecting the brake line to get more access should not be that big a deal. This is how you do the LH TAB on an automatic. It may be necessary to remove the trailing arm with the front bushing and TAB as an assembly and to get it all apart on the floor. You can also try cutting the bolt up with a Sawzall but then you have to remove the trailing arm to get the pieces out with a press. Chances are the bolt is not "frozen" as much as bent.
David Teitelbaum

Frozen... bent... when I tried replacing them a month or two ago, I put everything I had into the TAB (full force on a breaker bar, impact at full for like a minute) and it wouldn't budge, so which exactly it is doesn't matter the most to me. I'm figuring I'll likely have to sawzall/angle the bolt in half and pull the arm- hence why I was asking about the brake lines.

I'll still be trying to get it loose- I have a few new tricks to pull before I use the nuclear (sawzall) option since I REALLY don't want to have to do that, but I've not got the greatest confidence in any of them working.

Consider making yourself a portable vise mounted to a small wooden platform. I have one that has come in handy many times. In this instance, I would set it on the floor and use it to press out the cut bolt while the trailing arm was still attached to the back wheel.

Bill Robertson
#5939

Quote:

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Originally Posted by content22207

Consider making yourself a portable vise mounted to a small wooden platform. I have one that has come in handy many times. In this instance, I would set it on the floor and use it to press out the cut bolt while the trailing arm was still attached to the back wheel.

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My most promising idea for breaking it loose is as follows- after soaking the thing in a good penetrant for several days, remove the shims. This will likely involve using the angle grinder in one of them, but once one is out the rest should be easy to remove. (I've already got new shims ordered, as I'd need to do this if I sawzall the bolt anyway). Remove the nut from the TAB (it comes off easily enough). Hit the bolt with Freeze Off on both sides of the arm. Place a number of washers on the TAB, and replace the nut- and then tighten the nut. With some luck, this will break the bolt free so it can be removed...

Since you can remove the nut on the far side: I just test fitted my tie rod pickle fork under a TAB head, and it does catch it, though not by much.

Bill Robertson
#5939

Earlier this year we replaced the trailing arm bolts on a car in our club that spent most of its life back east primarily in Michigan. A car that had once been rebuilt by Larence Lormand.

The drivers side TAB was so rusted in place that it was cold welded to the control arm. We tried using a vice, we tried a big hammer and a bolt, finally we had to use a drill bit just slightly smaller than the bolt and drill the thing out in order to save the control arm.

The passenger side bolt came out no problem at all.

Dan

I know this answer is opposed to your question. Recommending that you take the trailing arm off after disconnecting the brake line on that side.

Yes, it will call for bleeding the fluid after you reassemble.

If you haven't flushed the fluid in the last 2 years then your car is overdue for it. If you have then it's just another $60 at the shop or the cost of a can of good brake fluid if you can do it yourself. And then you're good for another 2 years.

Use a pipe on the breaker bar. If you really can't move it then just get the whole thing on the floor and take it to a shop with a hydraulic press. Sometimes the bolts can be really difficult to remove. Be careful not to hurt yourself beating it up in the car.
David Teitelbaum

If there's no way to remove the whole trailing arm without removing the brake lines, I'm fine with having to do so. I rebuilt all four calipers, replaced the master cylinder, and flushed the system roughly a year ago so I'm not worried about it needing it, but I'd prefer avoiding having to do it again if I can. Hopefully though I'll be able to break the bolt free and not need to worry about it.

Dave- I can't really get the car high enough to use a pipe on the breaker bar effectively, or I would have done so the last time I tried. If I had a lift it would be a different story, but at least at home I'm limited to how high I can comfortably get it on jack stands. I'm really hoping that taking the tension out of the equation with getting the shims out will help, and using the nut and washers as a makeshift 'press' will break it free.

Put a floor jack underneath the wrench.

Bill Robertson
#5939

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ashyukun

My most promising idea for breaking it loose is as follows- after soaking the thing in a good penetrant for several days, remove the shims. This will likely involve using the angle grinder in one of them, but once one is out the rest should be easy to remove. (I've already got new shims ordered, as I'd need to do this if I sawzall the bolt anyway). Remove the nut from the TAB (it comes off easily enough). Hit the bolt with Freeze Off on both sides of the arm. Place a number of washers on the TAB, and replace the nut- and then tighten the nut. With some luck, this will break the bolt free so it can be removed...

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Or...

Once you get the shims out use a saber saw (jig saw) to cut the bolt in half. Then you don't need to worry about the frozen nut.

It can be done if you are careful without harming the arm.

Dan

Nut isn't frozen (that's why I suggested a pickle fork) -- the TAB itself is frozen to the sleeve.

Bill Robertson
#5939

Quote:

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Originally Posted by content22207

Nut isn't frozen (that's why I suggested a pickle fork) -- the TAB itself is frozen to the sleeve.

Bill Robertson
#5939

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So it is the same problem we had. In our case there was no way to unfreeze the bolt from the arm without removing it from the car. It was truly cold welded solid.

We spent many hours with lubricants, a chisel, heat and eveything we could think of. What finally worked was drilling the bolt out starting with a pilot hole down the middle and then incrementally increasing the bit size (the bolt is hardened and even with lubricants it was chewing up bits) hoping it would eventally unlock from the arm.

It never happened and, like I said before, we finally used a bit that was the exact same size as the bolt which meant we essentally reamed out the control arm sleeve enough to put the new bolt through.

Dan

I'm hoping that mine isn't quite that bad, but there won't be any way to tell until I get into it again and try and break it loose...

A final update on this- I finally got into it with the TAB this afternoon, and after cutting through about 1/8 of the bolt with a cutoff wheel on my angle grinder, I was able to get the bolt to turn and back it out all the way without having to cut all the way through it and remove the trailing arm. I did a happy little dance around the garage holding the removed bolt. It was definitely bent, though not drastically, but also very heavily rusted.

I put in the new TAB bushing, but can't fully install the new TAB until the package I have coming in from Midwest gets here since I did destroy the shims as I expected would be the case. Still- that's a very minor delay. Not having to pull the trailing arm makes me QUITE happy... especially since I've got enough other issues to deal with already. -_-;

My left side TAB bolt was slightly bent and would not come out no matter what I did! (5spd)
Eventually all my prying, twisting and cursing resulted in the rubber bushing getting destroyed....came out easy after that! Just had to replace the bushing, but I should have done it from the start anyway.

John