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is suspension hardware available from GM?


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Guest TurboSedan
Posted

anyone know if i can still buy new strut bolts for the rear? i need the two big bolts & nuts that attach the lower strut to the knuckle and the two 15mm bolts that hold the strut mount to the body.

 

TIA

Posted

You can still buy them from the dealer, but ( as I recall when we were working on johns car ) those bolts are quite expensive.

Posted

anyone know if i can still buy new strut bolts for the rear? i need the two big bolts & nuts that attach the lower strut to the knuckle and the two 15mm bolts that hold the strut mount to the body.

 

TIA

 

I might have the two big bolts for the knuckle... I'll look for you.

 

The two 15"s at the top should come with a strut install kit...

Guest TurboSedan
Posted

huh, those 15mm bolts didn't come with my KYB strut mounts or KYB struts :shrug:

 

i need all the hardware for both sides. mine are totally trashed. one of the 15mm bolts snapped off so i gotta figure out how to get that out :confused: i had to pull both knuckles out and lay them on the ground just to swing at them hard enough to get the bolts out. i had to nail them HARD over and over again with a big 'ol sledge and i'm kinda worried i may have bent one of the knuckles :( thought this would be easy since i have coilovers but it's turned into a major PITA.

Posted

OT - But why is it suspension parts are so hard to get off?? I would have thought that a car company would figure out a way to rust proof the suspension parts so things easily come apart

Posted

OT - But why is it suspension parts are so hard to get off?? I would have thought that a car company would figure out a way to rust proof the suspension parts so things easily come apart

 

HAR HAR HAR...GG GM. :lol:

Posted

Wow, yours must be corroded badly. I just installed KYB GR2's and new Monroe mounts in the rear end of my TGP today and everything came out nicely. My new mounts came with new 15mm bolts for the mounts. The large knuckle bolts came out with a drift pin and a regular 32 oz ball pein hammer. Be sure to antiseize everything when reassembling. It's a 2 hr job when nothing fights you. Try using an EZ out (bolt extractor) to remove the broken mount bolt or just drill it out and run a tap through the hole.

Guest TurboSedan
Posted

i don't know if i just overtorqued them or what. i put these struts & coilovers in back in the fall of 2001 and i know i didn't have a torque wrench back then. they were tight as fuck :lol: it's wierd that it would be a corrosion issue because my Cutlass has absolutely NO rust anywhere on it. it's been a Wyoming car all its life (no salt used here in winter and very dry in summer).

Posted

yeah but the changes in weather ( hot to cold ) will also do this. Especially since the coilovers are Al.

Posted

Ok Ok.... the larger bolts.... you can buy them at Advanced, AutoZone, and Murrays. Monroe has a part numer in thier catalog for them. Dealer still can get them, they were $7 for the bolt, $3 for the nut. That is an estimate as it was 3 months ago that I bought them. The upper bolts.... should have come in the kit.... but anyways.... They are 9.8 grade factory, I usually like to just buy some from ACO hardware, they have the correct thread size and pitch in 12.8 grade allen head cap screws that work very good. Also get a hardened lockwasher. For the snapped bolt you will have to drill it out. I usually start with a 2mm bit and work up. Trust me it will take a long time, and you arms will be burning way before you get thru. Make sure you remove all the trunk carpeting from the rear strut towers before you start drilling. On the inside of the trunk use a piece of metal with a hole for support. If you go to uhaul they have small square blocks with holes already in them. They use them for hitch installs, and they work great for it. Then just put a nut over the top and tighten it down.

Posted

I got new 15mm bolts for the upper mounts and I got chromed ones from ace hardware.

 

the size is 10mx1.5 if your curious.

  • 1 month later...
Guest TurboSedan
Posted

well fuck. i finally hit it again today. the car has been sitting well over a month now.

 

went to ACE Hardware and bought some small drill bits, 3 sizes actually. started drilling into the broken bolt working my way up in size. i also bought one of those square bolt extractors that you pound in and then turn (at least i think that's how they work :lol: ). unfortunately, that broke off inside the broken bolt :confused:

 

i don't know what the fuck to do now. my drill bits don't seem to drill into the broken piece of the bolt extractor so it looks like i'm kinda screwed. i'm going to try putting a torch on the bolt and get it real hot, and then grab onto the other side of the bolt with a vice grips (in the trunk) and see if i can get that fucker to turn. maybe i'll just put an oxyacetylene torch on it and melt it out :lol: j/k. if that doesn't work then i think that's enough for me to say fuck it and start parting out the Cutlass so i can get my TSTE going.

 

i can't wait to get a new car :neutral:

Posted

heat it up, hit it with PB blaster, and vise grip the top sticking into the trunk and turn it leftwise :lol: to bring it UP into the trunk. as if you were tightening it from underneath.

Guest TurboSedan
Posted

heat it up, hit it with PB blaster, and vise grip the top sticking into the trunk and turn it leftwise :lol: to bring it UP into the trunk. as if you were tightening it from underneath.

 

i got it out! :biggrin: that's exactly what i did Pat. i ended up borrowing my brother's oxyacetylene torch. heated it up really good while i started turning it back and forth from inside the trunk with a vice-grips. it finally let go. for awhile there i could only turn it back and forth about an 1/8 turn but i just kept spraying it down with WD-40 and eventually the corrosion let go and it came out up through the trunk. thankfully, the threads in the car are just fine.

 

here's what's left of it:

 

DSC02727.JPG

 

Posted

those bolts were a bit of a PITA when I replaced my struts too....guess I was lucky they came out okay...

 

good job Josh!

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