Replacing my shocks and control arms on my 350. Need to move the shock a bit to get the control arm out. Ctrl arm bolts back out and hit the spring and wont come out all the way.

Already got the other side done. I unbolted the shock from above in the engine bay and below on the lower control arm. I was able to drop to whole shock a bit and get the bolts past the springs + remove the shock from the wheel well entirely.

On the other side went through the same steps. Shock is completely unbolted but won't budge forward or back and didn't drop a bit like the other.

Any ideas for getting it unstuck? Hitting it harder is also an option I guess

 

You've got a couple of options.
#1, def spray Liquid Wrench (NOT WD40 or another substitute) liberally and let it sit overnight.
#2, Put your bolts and nuts back on loosely (so it doesn't fly off at you.) Let the chasis rest on a jack stand and compress the shock with your jack under the knuckle. Rotate the shock lower flange in the extended (lowered) position. What's likely holding it is either rust or a bind on the lower end. Once you can rotate the assembly by hand you should be good!

 

Sorry for the late reply. Can try picking up some liquid wrench. What it think the problem is is that lower mounting point for the shock is stuck on the bushing in the lower control arm. Just had those replaced with a fresh OEM set recently and I think the fit must be REALLY tight. I have considered removing the (and forgive me for not knowing the name) thick curved arm that sits more towards the interior of the car from the knuckle and then tying to push the entire lower control arm down, pivoting on the more interior mounting point while attached, hopefully bringing the shock with it. I think that would give more more room and leverage to move the shock forward and back to hopefully pop it off.

Not sure if this is feasible or a good idea though. Just what i noticed from looking at things. It seems to be bolted in just like the upper control arms.

 

No worries.
Perhaps a pic would help. Use the button to the right of Smiley to post 2 pics, 1 from front or behind, 1
from 90 degrees. Has there been any stress, curbing or wrecks on that side?

 

Bfh it

 

bolts on the top hat are still stick through the mounting points in the engine bay. Dont think that would allow it to budge much from the bfh. I might be overthinking. Ill get a pic tomorrow

 

I'll attach some photos here. Apologies they will probably be quite large.


Shock is completely unbolted. On the other side I was able to push the entire assembly down eliminating this gap between the shock and control arm and swing the top of the shock out and away from the wheel well. It is stuck on this side.

I cannot hammer the lower portion of the shock to loosen it as the bolts on the top hat are still sticking through the mounting points in the engine bay, preventing any kind of movement forward or backward.

Not sure what this arm is called. It is the only other thing holding the knuckle level. It is attached just like the upper control arm. Nut with a cotter pin. Remove this and I THINK the whole knuckle should swing down, pivoting off of the most inboard mounting point of the lower control arm bringing the shock with it

Most inboard flat line on the lower control arm is the pivot point. Disconnecting the curved arm should allow me to pivot this entire assembly (brake assembly, lower control arm) down, hopefully taking the shock with it since it is attached to the lower control arm.

From there once the assembly is moved down, the bolts on the top hat should clear the mounting points allowing me to hopefully just wiggle it back and forth to remove it from the bushing on the lower control arm. I could use a spring compressor to compress the spring and then manually try and push the piston in but honestly I really dont want to mess with a spring compressor if I dont have to.

Let me know if that makes any sense. I am pretty new to this so I may be overthinking things

 

Also no, no damage to this area.

 

Step on lca

 

Borrow a spring compressor from AutoZone, swing the bottom out and you're good.

 

hello dude

you said you're replacing shocks and control arms. safe to assume you are replacing just the upper control arms? there are 3 at the front:
upper control arm / A-arm
lower control arm (straight one with the end links attach point) [you said you replaced these recently]
compression arm (the banana one)

you dont need to touch the banana arm, especially cuz it looks like you have not removed your front subframe brace

so as you deduced it can be seized to the faces at 2 locations:

1) topside of shock top hat to the bottomside of the strut area of the chassis
2) the inner faces of the fork bit for the lower shock mount to the outer faces of the lower control arm bushing inner race

to deal with / eliminate the possibility of #2, you should hammer the shock itself. you can leave the control attached at the front subframe for the pivot point, but undo the other 2 points (end link attachment and the balljoint end at the back of the hub). since you are not replacing the lower control arm, try hitting the upper sides left and right of the lower shock mount

so there's the bottom of the gas shock cylinder, then the rod, then the upside down U that the lower shock mount bolt passes through. the face where the rod is welded to the upside down U, hit downward the left and right of the rod. if/once you are sure it's not seized at the lower control arm half, as jhc stated, borrowing a spring compressor would aid in facilitating the top part, allowing it to compress easily when hammered.
*if you can't really get anywhere with this and aren't certain it's free on the bottom, just undo the 3rd control arm point (front subframe pivot) put the lower shock mount bolt back in, and let the control arm come out with the shock after

you said you're replacing the shocks, so you don't need to worry about the studs with respect to damage. from the engine bay, hammer from above each of the 3 exposed studs of the shock. careful of your a/c line at the inner one. you can also fit a really large socket in the main bore where the center nut is and hammer down there. i cannot tell you how large off the top of my head, but likely something giant that you probably don't have (any large cylindrical metal will do)

there is no reason you cannot break it free from surface rust/seize (says me canadian car changed at ~150,000 km, driven in winter, also parked outside before my ownership). stay calm and keep at it good luck

 

The outside of the lower control arm is the ball joint. I would remove the cotter pin, crack it loose (its a 17 or a 19, put a little tension on the balljoint using a pry bar on the arm otherwise the balljoint just spins) and remove the swaybar endlink slightly inboard and swing the arm down as needed. Should make reinstallation easier as well.

 

Tried getting ball joint nut off but it is ON there. Need to get my impact and see if I can get it off. Thinking about just trying to take the whole arm of cause I'm tired of dealing with this. Still not sure why I wouldn't be able to push knuckle and lower crtl arm down once comp arm is unbolted from the knuckle. I'll figure something out. Thanks for your suggestions everyone I appreciate it