Shock Mount Bolt Stuck. HELP!

Hi all,

I'm replacing the suspension on my 2005 Tundra DC. Everything was going smoothly, until I went to remove the original shock/coilover assembly. The three nuts at the top came off no problem. The mounting bolt at the bottom will not budge. I've tried a puller and impact wrench, a mini-sledge, and then a full size sledge. I've also tried putting some back pressure on the hub to see if it would relieve a pinch point. I believe I've now ruined the bolt trying to beat it out so I'll order a new one this afternoon.

What am I doing wrong? In all of the suspension swap videos I have watched, I've never seen anyone struggle with this. Especially surprised as this truck is almost completely rust free and other bolts are coming out easily.



Please help!!

Thanks,
Noah

 

pressure

Sometimes a Jack under the control arm will reduce pressure on the bolt.

other times heat is the answer

 

@ZappBrannigan , thanks. I hadn't thought about heat, I'll try that. At this point I have the top of the strut completely off, so there should be no pressure except for the weight of the strut and spring on the mounting bolt.

 

Well, let us know how it works out.

 

Is the shock flopped to the side creating pressure on the bolt?

 

Can you spin the bolt? When they don't budge like that its usually due to the bolt rusting/bonding to the metal insert in the shock.

 

@TILLY that's exactly what happened. So I tried everything under the sun, including the heat recommendation at different heats, letting it fully cool overnight, and trying again with higher heat.

Nothing worked. Cut it out with an angle grinder, bolt was seized to insert. I ruined the strut mounts in the process of banging and cutting, so I've no ordered a new lower control arm from Moog. Bummer...

 

Glad you got it straightened out, except for the destruction part of course.

 

Bummer. But glad you got it figured. I had a bolt seize in my rear shackles; luckily it was the shackle to spring bolt and not the shackle to frame bolt. I was able to pull the springs with the shackle still attached but even out of the vehicle I had zero luck freeing it, using all of the methods you mentioned above. So that CoachBuilder shackle is permanently attached to the spring waiting to go the recycler. Luckily, I kept my stock shackles and through those back in.