Help! Camber bolt seized in the bushing.

toy4everyseason · **Posted:** Sun Jul 13, 2014 11:14 am

Last week when I got my alignment the mechanic claimed the camber/caster bolts where seized in the bushing. I got under there this weekend and found the 2 forward camber/caster bolts where indeed seized in the bushing. A little PB bolt buster and a hammer took care of the passenger side one but the forward driver side one is still seized solid. So far I've tried drenching it in PB bolt blaster, an ball joint c-clamp, an impact wrench and an air chisel but it won't budge. I fear the only other options are heat or cutting it out. Both would destroy them camber bolt and bushing which no one stocks around here. Anyone have any idea or tricks up their sleeves? Gotta love the rust belt.

toy4everyseason · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 2:46 am

Hmmm, well I got brand new bushings & camber bolts coming so looks like I'll just cut it out & replace it with new. It's extra work I wasn't expecting but at least the entire front end will be rebuilt minus lower ball joints & tie rod ends. I'll take some pictures of the process & post it here for future reference. Stay tuned.

Scar0 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 5:43 am

You could try heat, but that would likely destroy the lower A-arm bushing, like you said.
Strange the bolt is stuck in the bushing. The problem is the bolt won't turn because of the cam washer, but you'd think the bushing would rotate with the bolt, if the bushing was loose on either the inside or outside of the bolt sleeve. The bushing is pressed into the A-arm.

Scar0 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 5:57 am

Another thought. Did you jack up the rig from the body frame and try, as well as trying to loosen it while weight is on it?
When the suspension flexes, the bushing should rotate on the bolt. It is possible the pressure of the spring with the weight of the wheel will pop the bolt loose from the inner bushing sleeve.

toy4everyseason · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:46 am

You're right scar0, the inner metal sleeve in the bushing itself is seized to the camber bolt. I tired suspension loaded & unloaded but doesn't seem to matter. Currently I put as much tension on the sleeve just short of tearing from the bushing & tightened it up. Hopefully the PB bolt blaster will continue to work in & free it up. Parts will be in Thursday so either way I'll be replacing all bushings & camber bolts so I can add some antiseize to the bushing sleeve in an attempt to never deal with this again.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 11:48 am

Scar0 wrote:

Another thought. Did you jack up the rig from the body frame and try, as well as trying to loosen it while weight is on it?
When the suspension flexes, the bushing should rotate on the bolt. It is possible the pressure of the spring with the weight of the wheel will pop the bolt loose from the inner bushing sleeve.

When that cam bolt is tight that metal sleeve will not rotate at all as it's "pinched" buy the clamping force of the bolt in the cradle mounts.The suspension flexing is just moving the rubber inside the bushing itself and the outer metal ring and inner sleeve stay in place and do not rotate at all.

Why it is so important to loosen then tighten all control arms and anything with a rubber bushing with the full weight of the vehicle on them to prevent premature bushing failure after lifting/lowering any vehicle.

toy4everyseason · **Posted:** Tue Jul 15, 2014 8:24 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

Scar0 wrote:

Another thought. Did you jack up the rig from the body frame and try, as well as trying to loosen it while weight is on it?
When the suspension flexes, the bushing should rotate on the bolt. It is possible the pressure of the spring with the weight of the wheel will pop the bolt loose from the inner bushing sleeve.

When that cam bolt is tight that metal sleeve will not rotate at all as it's "pinched" buy the clamping force of the bolt in the cradle mounts.The suspension flexing is just moving the rubber inside the bushing itself and the outer metal ring and inner sleeve stay in place and do not rotate at all.

Why it is so important to loosen then tighten all control arms and anything with a rubber bushing with the full weight of the vehicle on them to prevent premature bushing failure after lifting/lowering any vehicle.

Haha you're right :ROTFL:

shows you how tired I was when I came up with that "plan"

Scar0 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 3:06 am

Duh, Yep it was late...

If the nut was loose, like you posted above, it would not hold the bushing still.
So when you put tension on the bushing, the bolt and cam lobe turned with it.
Must be real fun to drive it now! lol

My only other thought would be to put pressure on the thread side of the bolt with a ball joint press (without the cup so you can access the bolt head)

[nut loose of course], then smack the head of the bolt with a hammer and peen. The constant pressure from one side and the vibration of the smacking on the other, just might work it loose.
But watch out, when it does break loose, it could come flying at you. Depending on the amount of pressure there is on the bolt.

toy4everyseason · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:21 am

I've tried a ball joint press but I'm afraid using it without the cup may not be possible as I believe the cam lobe & bolt are one piece. At least it looks that way on my new cam bolts. All my parts should be in by my weekend so I'm just going to cut it out & rebuild the LCA with new bushings, hardware and a healthy dose of antiseize on the bolt bodies. Haven't driven it with its wacky camber issues, just looks unsafe so it's the Mazdaspeed or the motorcycle for me. Lucky for me it's summer time.

Scar0 · **Posted:** Wed Jul 16, 2014 6:56 am

Don't blame you on that one, with new parts on the way.

toy4everyseason · **Posted:** Fri Jul 18, 2014 12:00 pm

Well I ended up cutting it out. Pretty simple once you pony up and buy some good saws-all blades :banghead:

I while I was under there I found one of my lower ball joints had more play the I liked so both are getting replaced. The bushings and ball joints proved too stubborn for my little ball joint press so both LCAs are at a local shop getting all new bushings and ball joints pressed in. Oh well, with my new JBA UCAs I'll have an all new front suspension.

Scar0 · **Posted:** Sat Jul 19, 2014 6:33 am

I just love it when a simple job turns into a week long project! NOT!
Good to hear you got that sucker out. Should be good to go for several years now.

toy4everyseason · **Posted:** Sat Jul 19, 2014 4:09 pm

Scar0 wrote:

I just love it when a simple job turns into a week long project! NOT!
Good to hear you got that sucker out. Should be good to go for several years now.

God I hope I never have to deal with that again for many more years. The shop really had their work cut out for them but they did a great job, even saved me the step of putting a fresh coat of paint on the LCAs. I couldn't put the rusty celvis forks back under there so they got a fresh coat of paint too. It looks band new under there. Every bolt that goes through a bushing got a nice coat of antiseize so I shouldn't have too much trouble from them anytime soon.

Help! Camber bolt seized in the bushing.

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