So I decided at 115k I was sick of wobbly front end and was going to rebuild suspension. Control arms upper and lower, ball joints and sway bar links were all a breeze.. then it was time for tie rods and compression arms. Went to drop the subframe brace, and that bolt was seized bad. Impact wrench wasn't doing it even after a good dousing of pb blaster. I blasted it again and let it sit overnight. I heated it. Finally grabbed a breaker bar.. felt it start moving and was encouraged...then snap. It broke off almost flush with the subframe brace. I am no welder and so I know it is going to a body shop. Anyone deal with this before? I have seen a few posts where people welded on stuff themselves but that is beyond my skills. I saw some kits like this:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/M35-front-fram...-/262383723233

How boned am I? I have heard of people scrapping the car over this and considering I just paid it off... that would suck.

 

You are not the first , and won't be the last to weld it back together.

 

Any guesses as to what a body shop will charge? Anyone know any good ones near Easton PA?

 

Can't you drop the subframe to have access to the rest of the bolt? Then take it off with a monkey wrench after spraying it?

Otherwise that kit looks pretty solid. A cheap 110v wire welder/arc could handle that.

 

Problem is the other end is welded to the frame rail. Getting some quotes from local shops, I will post them in here in case anyone else is interested.

 

OHHH gotcha. I thought it was a threaded stud just frozen in the frame

 

Ive taken those compression arms off using a Gear puller before. Most times it will just tear the arm off the bushings. then I spend time with the dremel on the inner race.

As for the welding. That shouldnt be to bad to fix for a skilled welder.
He/she could even re-do the entire stud.

 

In case anyone is interested, the welding, replacement of tie rod inner and outer, compression arms, and alignment ended up just shy of 1100 dollars. Well worth it, at that point I was just sick of messing with it in my driveway and wanted it done.

 

Much cheaper than scrapping the car huh...nice work!