reverse thread?

bump....hurry guys! car is in the air!!!

the two large bolts on the bottom half of the strut body? nope

No, they are righthand thread 15mm bolt head and 18mm nut. If they are binding they may be under load.

http://autozone.com/servlet/UiBroke..._us/0900823d/80/08/ec/24/0900823d8008ec24.jsp


the bolts and nuts i am talking about are these ones....its the first picture down

and i dont udnerstand how much of a load they could be under as the car is being supported by the frame rail and not the lower control arm

alright i couldnt get the damn things loose to go ahead and adjust my camber by eye a little bit. I have wayyyyy too much negative camber and its causing the inside of the tire to wear away like nothing

did ya soak em in like wd 40 or pb blazter or sumtin?do they turn or is it locked in place? like is it a mteer of not being able to hold one wrench and turn another? Maybe get a long piece of pipe and use leverae to your advantage

I have used a bottle jack with a wrench on some parts. One side you should be able to just put something under the wrench and lower the car slowly to break it loose.

yeah i broke a no name 1/2 inch ratchet,1/2 to 3/8 step down adapter and a 3/8 drive craftsman ratchet which was promptly brought back to sears in many different colorful pieces......All i want to do is adjust the knuckle just a bit down to get a little more positive camber so my tire stops wearing on the inside so damn much. Its running through tires in like 500 miles or so and if i could just get this problem solved i could throw on a good set and not worry about toasting the tires in a few hundred or so.....I know people are going to say just take it to a tire shop and let them align it perfectly and shit but i have no money,lol. And when i did have money and took it to a tire shop they couldnt get the nut off and didnt wana try using a torch so what do i do now?

also if and when i get the nuts loose can i just bump the shock up in the knuckle assembly to get more positive camber? I already marked where the shock and knuckle are at right now with a white paint marker so should i just adjust it by like an 1/8 of an inch at a time and then take it to an alignment shop and see where its at? lol

ok couldnt get the damn nuts loose for the life of me,what do i do?

Invest in a good set of 1/2in tools and some breaker bars.

You really can't work on the suspension with just 3/8in hand tools. Alot of time those bolts are frozen or high torque. So all you will do is break 3/8in tools. I've learned my lesson a few times over. Heck, I've even managed to break my craftsman 1/2in breaker bar a few times.

I also use a 1/2in electric impact gun. I have impact sockets in 15mm(deep/shallow),18mm and i think 24mm for the axle nut. I have a big 1/2in breaker bar and a pipe from home depot to help with leverage.

All my tools are craftsman for easy replacment.

86lance said:

ok couldnt get the damn nuts loose for the life of me,what do i do?

Click to expand...

yeah like 95 percent of the tools me and my dad own are craftsman so thats covered,but even with a 1/2 inch craftsman wrench and a 4 foot breaker bar the nut still wouldnt come loose

Chicago car, I would use the pb blaster at a couple shots per day for a week. pull the caliper and rotor for a better line on breaker bar. use a bottle jack to jack up the end of breaker bar. I'm assuming the nut is to the rear. You might get the spring completely compressed before it breaks loose. It really does work.

that isnt a bad idea,but im afriad when i pull the caliper and rotor off the axle assembly it wont go back on right,(i did front brakes on the car a while ago and it didnt go back on correctly the first time) but ive been soaking the nuts in pb everyday,and i try to break it loose,sould i use a 13/16 combo wrench er what? i think that would be the strongest

Hey, i'm a mechanic in a large pork production facility in Ne. and have to deal with this type of problem daily. First, I would get on the phone and call your local Dodge dealer and see if those bolts are still available because it sounds like you might be snapping one off. I use heat often on bolts that won't cooperate, if you can get one side of the nut glowing red, you might be able to work it loose, then hit it with more PB once it cools to make it easier to thread off. Good luck.

Oh ya, I have a '90 Daytona and recently had to loosen these same bolts to make the same adjustment, I found out I could not get enough adjustment and a machine shop might have to cut some material out of the slot to get enough. This would render the "cam" washer useless as the washer would no longer be making contact with the "follower".

i think i might just break down and do new tires and sh*t at a tire place,still cant get it loose

When you get them done, stand over the guy to make sure he doesn't use an impact wrench when he bolts them back down! I'll take odds thats the reason they are stuck in the first place, they are massively over-torqued. Never use an impact wrench to tighten bolts!!!!