This bolt:



is stuck in here:



And when I say stuck, I mean it is STUCK!. I have broken a hammer beating on it (no worries about destroying the subframe, it's getting junked anyway ).

Anyone ever have this happen? It doesn't seem to be jammed on anything, as I can spin it (with incredible difficulty, I might add) with a wrench. But it will not come out. If so, what did you do to remedy the situation. I've tried brute force, did not end well. Heat doesn't work. So short of destroying the control arm (which I actually need), what are my options?

 

cut off wheel.

 

hold off on the cut off wheel. What happened when I ran into this issue was the bolt was rusted in the sleeve inside the rubber bushing. What I did was drill a hole in the sleeve with a good 3/16 drill bit down to the bolt (you'll know because it'll stop throwing silver filings from the bit and be spitting rust dust). Then heat it excessively with a propane torch and spray PB Blaster in the hole. Repeat 2-3 times, bolt should come free fairly easily after that.

 

Well yea... but I don't see how that will work. It's stuck internally, if you get my meaning. I can rotate the bolt to some degree, and if I cut off the ends it'll just make it harder to get it out.

 

Drill where exactly? Like here?



Sounds like a pretty good solution. Then I can just put a tack weld over the hole. Or put in a grease fitting, lol.

 

no, if you burn out the rubber bushing (I assume you're changing out to poly), you can get access to a steel sleeve that's inside the rubber bushing that the bolt fits snugly to. The problem is that water and road grime get into it and rust the two together. You're probably getting the bolt to turn because the sleeve is separated from the rubber bushing now and just spinning inside the rubber. It's about 3/16" to 1/4" thick roughly (I'm going by memory here). You should be able to see what I'm talking about if you just remove the plastic ends covering the rubber bushing (the bits of black showing on either side of the trailing arm). Just cut them off if need be, they're not reused if you are changing to poly.

Protip: If you're changing to poly, you must remove a steel sleeve on the outside of the bushing that is pressed into the trailing arm. The best method of doing this I've found is just a steel cutting blade on a sawzall. Just be gingerly and don't get carried away and cut into the trailing arm. It's soft metal and cuts easily just with the weight of the saw. Cut it in 2 places, roughly 90* from each other, knock it out with a chisel or punch and it'll just fall out easy as pie.

 

No... I'm not doing that. Just swapping my 5 lug hubs onto a subframe that came out of my 4 lug parts car. I'm on a budget here. So basically I'm screwed then? It has to be demolished to come apart?

 

Ok, so I'm going to need to replace that bushing then? Is this the part I need?

http://mazdatrix.com/h6_86-92.htm

Part: H-113103

 

yeah, that be the parts you need. You're best off doing that anyways, I mean it's a bitch to drop the rear sub frame, lets be honest. Might as well just bite the bullet and put the poly bushings in then. Besides, it sounds like the rubber bushings are pretty well shot anyways

 

So since I'm at my house, and not my parents (where the majority of the "good" tools are), I've been alternating between soaking it in PB blaster, heating it with a MAPP gas torch, and hammering it. It's been an hour with no change but smashing up the subframe. It is ******* IN THERE. I'm probably going to have to cut the ends off the bolts and take it out to my parents and torch the rubber out of there.

Also, the sleeve is not spinning in the rubber, the entire mess is spinning.