[alyoshak24]

Hello,

I am overhauling the rear suspension of a 99' Camry LE 2.2L w/ ABS and removed everything minus the trailing arms because the 10" Bolt wont come off Rear Knuckle...

A. To my understanding these bolts only have threads at the end and not throughout the body because if so the rubber bushings would deteriorate at an alarming pace ?

B. if that's the case why wont this bolt come off ?

the following is what I tried thus far:

1. Hitting it with a hammer from the tail end (going to buy another 10" bolt anyway)
2. Putting the torch to knuckle and entry/exit ways of the Bolt
3. Spraying it with WD-40 and another strong chemical spray and let it soak overnight

C. Now what do you guys recommend me do ? its a 99' and I believe it is the original Knuckle....has it just seized beyond repair over time ?

D. Should it slide out easily if it was new model ?

E. Is there a recommend method/tool to extract the bolt ?

F. Also can you please provide detailed steps with pictures and/or videos for this problem ?

G. Last question, does the knuckle have a hollow tube that bolt runs through or is the body of the bolt just exposed by design ?

I've attached are photos of the Knuckle and Bolt.

Thank you guys so much !

 

[norm356]

there was a video link posted by someone here a couple of weeks ago, of someone getting that bolt out of a Subaru (similar rear suspension design)

what he did was work it back and forth, with long lever arms and lots of penetrating oil, it took him about 15 min of hard labor until it first began to move (he admitted that the hard ones take more like 30 min!)

the challenge for you will be how to hold the knuckle, now that everything else is disconnected

either put it in a big vise, or take it to a machine shop so they can press it out using their big hydraulic press

 

[norm356]

"does the knuckle have a hollow tube that bolt runs through or is the body of the bolt just exposed by design ?"

there is no tube, that is the bolt you can see in that cutout portion

the purpose of that open portion is so you can get penetrating spray at both ends while you work it back/forth to eventually loosen it

 

[alyoshak24]

"does the knuckle have a hollow tube that bolt runs through or is the body of the bolt just exposed by design ?"

there is no tube, that is the bolt you can see in that cutout portion

the purpose of that open portion is so you can get penetrating spray at both ends while you work it back/forth to eventually loosen it

Thank You so much my man, I will definitely have to invest in a vice, I will update you by tomorrow the latest to see where I am at.

 

[Tsp84]

When you do get it free plz update. I am doing this same thing but with the knuckle still on the rear end. How bad were your 'strut rod' bolts? (The arm that runs from the bottom of knuckle forward to under rear door).

 

[Camreeeee]

When you do get it free plz update. I am doing this same thing but with the knuckle still on the rear end. How bad were your 'strut rod' bolts? (The arm that runs from the bottom of knuckle forward to under rear door).

The biggest issue with those ones is getting enough torque on the top forward bolt if the car is on jackstands. Use u-joints, short sockets, and a long breaker bar and they should crack loose. If the knuckle size is siezed it's easier to remove if you burn out first, then you can cut the head of the bolt off.

 

[Tsp84]

The biggest issue with those ones is getting enough torque on the top forward bolt if the car is on jackstands. Use u-joints, short sockets, and a long breaker bar and they should crack loose. If the knuckle size is siezed it's easier to remove if you burn out first, then you can cut the head of the bolt off.

Car is on jack stands so I'll give that a try. I haven't bought a torch yet because from what I understand propane and map+ isn't hot enough to do anything useful. I've seen kits for map+ with oxygen that can cut through thin steel and braze/weld but am uncertain if it would work properly for what I want it to do. To buy an oxy acetylene setup and than get the gas' seems prohibitively expensive, even the small back pack oxy/fuel kits are like 500.

My rear end feels like it wants to go to the right or left when I hit bumps a certain way and im almost certain it's those strut rod bushings (severe left/right play by hand). I've replaced everything on rear end except the front non adjustable lateral arm and the strut rod bushings. Also working on the big bolt through the knuckle/arms (no air tools and only a crappy 250 ft/lb 1/2 inch drive corded impact from Canadian Tire). I am considering investing in a cordless impact that has the 750+ ft/lb if it's necessary, I usually do all my work with hand tools. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Camreeeee]

Car is on jack stands so I'll give that a try. I haven't bought a torch yet because from what I understand propane and map+ isn't hot enough to do anything useful. I've seen kits for map+ with oxygen that can cut through thin steel and braze/weld but am uncertain if it would work properly for what I want it to do. To buy an oxy acetylene setup and than get the gas' seems prohibitively expensive, even the small back pack oxy/fuel kits are like 500.

My rear end feels like it wants to go to the right or left when I hit bumps a certain way and im almost certain it's those strut rod bushings (severe left/right play by hand). I've replaced everything on rear end except the front non adjustable lateral arm and the strut rod bushings. Also working on the big bolt through the knuckle/arms (no air tools and only a crappy 250 ft/lb 1/2 inch drive corded impact from Canadian Tire). I am considering investing in a cordless impact that has the 750+ ft/lb if it's necessary, I usually do all my work with hand tools. Thanks for the advice!

I also use mostly hand tools to DIY what I can, gotta work with what we have. MAPP gas torches won't melt steel, and it barely burns hotter than propane, but I can personally attest that it's hot enough to burn out that rubber, even if it will take 15 minutes and a gas mask. Bonus side of not being hot enough to melt metal is that it's not hot enough to melt your knuckle or warp it, but they're hot enough to get smaller stuff red hot. Bolts/Nuts mostly, but I've also used mine for aiding in bending reinforced sheet metal around the car.

Careful how fast you cool stuff down though, I've cracked those lateral rods by heat cycling the steel repeatedly and then spraying with penetrating oil trying to loosen an adjusting nut. Literally cracked the entire adjusting tube.

I think you can get a bernzomatic fitting for like $25 and the canisters are pretty cheap like $10-15. They last a long time, probably an hour per canister.

I could be wrong, but I think the strut rod bushings play a bigger part in holding the rear wheels straight vertically and longitudinally than the lateral arms which do most of the work in holding the wheels straight laterally. So if you're wiggling left ride by hand its more than likely the bushings (2 per side) on the front rear lateral control arm which have yet to be replaced. Those two bushings alone could give you a good inch of free play left/right if they are totally shot even if the rear arm bushing and ball joint are new.

If you're wiggling the wheel up and down (in and out) and its got too much play thats probably more related to the strut torque rods. Same as when you go over bumps and the wheel goes up and down, if that bushing has freeplay then the bolt is just floating not allowing vertical control of the knuckle until the bolt has resistance from the rubber again. They act to hold the wheel on a single vertical axis reducing side to side and front to back play, where the lateral arms allow for a bit of independant play as needed, hence the ball joints on the rear rear middle attachment points. You can swap those out for shaved poly inserts if you want the rear tires to have even less play, but its a pita and not needed.

 

[Vangm25]

Heat, heat, heat, and more heat then a impact gun left or right to break loose anything. Specifically, the heat that shop's use. Not a small propane bottle or whatever else you can buy from the store. Commercial grade.

 

[alyoshak24]

So guys its finally out and @Vangm25 was right, my father took it to his job and they use commercial torches and after lighting it on fire to the point the whole bolt was orange and breathing, they used a low grade pneumatic presser...the nut was out and the only grooves are at the end so there is no need to turn it out, you have to hammer that bitch out of its rubber hole slot on the Knuckle lol

 

[Vangm25]

So guys its finally out and @Vangm25 was right, my father took it to his job and they use commercial torches and after lighting it on fire to the point the whole bolt was orange and breathing, they used a low grade pneumatic presser...the nut was out and the only grooves are at the end so there is no need to turn it out, you have to hammer that bitch out of its rubber lol

That to me is the main difference between some DIY and auto shops. Some people who DIY can possess the higher end torches that are definitely needed to knock out heavily rusted bolts like that one but not all people need a giant bottle of gas and oxygen and what not. When I was still at the shop I watched my coworker work on the same thing with that bolt. I think the pro of that annoying design is that it makes it very easy to heat the bolt itself. The con of that design is that since it is wide open EVERYTHING is gonna get in there. The seemingly nice thing with at least the Gen 6 Camry's is that they got rid of that one long bolt and changed it to a two or so bolt design.

It's not impossible to do it without torches but it is definitely worth a little bit more $$$ or someone you know before you make this job much much worst than what it could've been. More so if you want it done now rather than later.