I've had a hell of a time trying to uninstall my Kinetix upper control arm with Eric yesterday with no luck. The thing needs to be cut off and I need new arms. Needless to say, I'm extremely unhappy about that and the fact that I need to keep spending money.

 

Damn bro, I know what you're going through being from the Great Lakes region myself.

Are you sure the arms aren't salvageable? I'm open today and tomorrow if you thought that a little more work and another set of eyes would help.

 

Damn that sucks. Never fails, whenever you don't want to spend any money you always do.

 

I don't think the arms are salvageable. Everything you're supposed to be able to loosen is seized on there -- everything. Check the below pic.




BTW, it's not just the camber arms. Most of the nuts/bolts are seized, particularly in the front end, if it's not something that gets loosened frequently. So that's pretty much everything that isn't alignment, wheels, or brake related -- everything.

 

Did you try heat?

 

That's what the alignment guys up north do -- torch it until it's bright red. I don't have access to a torch (I think David and Travis does, though). Even if I did, I don't think it's a 1 man job as the alignment tech that I saw torch my A-arms before had to get help. Also, everything is in pretty bad condition from the salt, particularly the threads inside the arm (not the stud).

I also just tried to loosen the nuts on the front sway, which haven't been adjusted in quite a while, and neither of the nuts budge. The driver's side endlink nut can't even be loosened. It looks like the metal thing (circled in red) holds the stud in place with teeth (like wheel studs). I may have ground those teeth down by attempting to loosen the nut because the nut now spins with the stud(?) in the endlink (circled in green).

I think the sway needs to be dropped and the stud be held in place with a vice grip or something for me to be able to loosen the nut with adequate room/leverage. That or maybe tack weld them.

 

That salt is tough on stuff for sure.

 

I edited my post above. But yeah, not very happy with what I'm finding every time I crawl under the car.

 

You thinking about just replacing all the rusted stuff to not have to deal with it?

 

No money. The car works fine as-is and I don't NEED to change anything out. As long as nothing breaks and needs replacing I'm ok.

 

I know it wouldn't reach most of the nuts and bolts you were working on, but did you have access to an impact as you worked? I have a cordless 300 ft/lb impact if you or anyone on here wants to borrow it. They make a HUGE difference with the rusted seized stuff.

 

I brought my cordless impact (300 ft/lbs as well) but no good. We had another impact but it was too large to fit.

I want this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/34-in-p...nch-68423.html


Even if the impact gun can back out the nut at the end of the pressed rod end (green), there's a bigger problem of getting the arm itself loosened from the joint (blue).



I was quoted $210 (already spent $70 for the new joints that I currently have no use for) for just the arms and you guys know I am all for not spending money. If anyone could help me disassemble my upper control arms (while retaining full functionality and without weakening their structural integrity), I would be eternally grateful.

 

I bet we could get them loose with a vice. Just have to get the arm positioned well enough in the vice to hold it, but not bend it. It's so defeating that we couldn't get it done. I almost always find a way to make it happen, but this one was a different beast.

 

Chris I get back in town Thur. If you want to come by and have another go at it, I'm game. I have a couple of wrenches for the nut. A cut down open end wrench and a crow foot that goes on my half inch ratchet. We can also try some "gentle" heat if its still stuck. Let me know.

 

why is it, everytime that i take my time washing my car and get it shiny and pretty... it freaking rains the very next day

 

Chris P....I know what yo mean about spending money you don't have.

Well I got the Z back ! And I guess the ABS works again...I did do a short braking excercise to see if they locked up but nothing at very fast speeds. I still need to check out the brakes to see if they can handle hard braking.

My mechanic actually had to order a new/used ABS pump .... I guess the first one I bought from eBay way bad, thus giving him the issues ! So I'm glad he stuck with it and figured it out.

Hopefully nothing else goes wrong for a long time.

 

I'm sure it's possible one way or another... Right? The guys up north have to deal with this all the time. I thought getting just the arms would be cheaper than $210, too.
Sure, I'm down for another go at it. Please let me know when you are free.

 

I park outside, so for me the rain is a car wash! I don't know what is getting on my car, but there's always little sap-like droppings all over it and the windshield. I cleaned it once since I got back and then realized I'd have to clean it every day or it would get dirty in hours.

 

The life of a black car owner. So much fun. Are you parked near trees Stu? Maybe just pollen flying around.

ChrisF so it's officially fixed???!?! And not raped by the dealer?

Travis it makes you want to doesn't it??

I'm really paranoid driving with no front plate now. Especially since Euless cops are REALLY ghey. If you drive pass 360/183 area 360 going North passing Harwood/Mid-Cities/Glade St...you don't EVER want to speed in this Euless area. They always have 2-3-4 cops set up on the side of the hwy there.

 

I think it's from these vines along the fence. I might ask my parents if I can take them out because they also attract these tiny white files. I think the vine might be coming over the fence from the backyard so I can just trim it back. Or cleaning out the garage so I could park in there is also an option haha.