VSLOATHE

I had to cut the bolts in my rear suspension with a reciprocating saw and order all new ones from Honda (I torched them but it didn't help ) So now in order to finish the rear right, all I need to do is get this one fragment of bolt out, it's about 3/4" long and it's in the threaded portion that is welded on to the trailing arm. Needless to say it's in a somewhat awkward place, and it's not that easy to turn. Any suggestions?

Also, if anyone suggests drilling it out, what kind of drill bit am I going to need to use to get through hardened steel? I have a set of titanium bits and some cobalt bits are lying around somewhere I'm sure.

Thanks for any help.

delsol161

can you put a pic up? i had a similar problem on my rear suspension, a pic might help us figure it out.

VSLOATHE

I'm at work now, and the car's at my parents' garage. When I go over in about an hour I will get a pic. My dad came home last night and he might be able to give me some advice.

delsol161

my bolt was the one that bolts the shock into the lower control arm, driver's side. it was rusted to bad i had to cut the end off, and t was still stuck. 4 hours l8r, i was able to beat it out w/ a 5 lb sledge and a 1/4" steel rod it was horrible...

those bits might do the job, but you'll havae to cut throught those welds first. it'll help loosen it up.

VSLOATHE

What I did on the last one was heat up the welds until I could just pop them off, then I used J.B. Weld to put them back on. I would prefer to avoid that if possible this time, because it'll be a much harder area to clean to ensure I get a solid weld with J.B. Weld.

delsol161

no kiddiing

Flatland2D

I've used this method before with good success. Drill the bolt with a bit about half the diameter of the bolt itself. They make a special bit for this next part. It's a piece of hardened steel that's tapered so it's more pointy at one end than the other. There are flutes running straight down the sides, not sprialing down like a normal bit. This bit get's hammered into the hole that you drilled, then with the bit held in place by the stuck bolt, chuck it up to a drill and very slowly try to rotate it out. Of course you'd need enough room to get a drill in there, but if you're real careful and patient, you might be able to rotate it with some pliers. Good luck!

Mr_Goodbar

I used to work for a company that sold taps and inserts. You can use these on stripped threads and such so it would work here. You can use them on just about everything b/c they make just about every size. What it is is a drill thats a little bigger than the threads on the welded on nut. You drill out the stuck bolt and the threads of the nut. Then you tap the bolt with a thread that's a little bigger than the original bolt. Then you screw in an insert that returns the thread to the original size.
I know it sounds kinda shoddy but Ive put these things in aircraft components for fighter jets. I know that the company had all kinds of military contracts. Do a search for Coil-Sert.

fathergoat

if you can get it with vise grips that would be best. if not try what flatland described, they're called easy-outs. Any hardware/autoparts store should carry them. oh and get the set of easy-outs with a reverse drill bit so the bolt doesn't get stuck worse.

VSLOATHE

I was able to get it out with an easy-out and a torch. I bought the 5-piece set of easy-outs, because I figured this wouldn't be the only time

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Taking it to a mechanic with air tools for the rear left tonight, lol. Those bolts are too much of a PITA and I'll gladly pay them for their hour or 2 of work when it would take me another 3 days easily.