Broken lower control arm bushing bolt

[Lasse H]

Looks like I did something slightly stupid just a moment ago. I was installing new PU bushings to lower control arm: first I spent some hours to clean old bushings and grease them. Then I pushed new bushings to their places. They went about half way by pressing hand, like instruction said. Then I put pivot bolt with its under disc to other side and started tightening it. Bushing went slowly in... Not extremely easily but I wasn't very worried because I had cleaned metal sleeves pretty carefully and used a lot of supplied grease. Bushing was nearly in and inner sleeve rotated nicely in it. Only some millimeters to go and tightening bolt becamy quite hard. Because I though removing the bushing would be very difficult, if not impossible, at that point, I just used more torque. Of course the tiny bolt broke (picture attached).

Any ideas what to do? Do I need a new lower control arm!? Is there any way to get even the PU bushing out without damaging it? My brain is not functioning at the moment.

[jordan]

Have you tried hitting the broken bolt out with a center punch? This is very strange that this happened, were you using a true grade 8 bolt? Not a hardware store bolt I would hope; they may say that they are grade 8 but they are usually only a grade 5.

[hrcollinsjr]

I would think the bolt would come out fairly easy by drilling and using a bolt extractor of some type. I have no advice for the bushing though. Wish I could be of more help.

Harold

[Lasse H]

Thanks! Just got the end of the broken bolt out. It wasn't terribly stuck after all. I used original bolt which didn't even look especially rusty. Guess my next move will be trying to force rest of the bushing in (in vice or with hammer), getting a new bolt and wishing the inner sleeve still rotates well.

[opelgtworld]

Polyurethane bushings and an old bolt...

Do yourself a favour and use rubber bushings

[GTJIM]

Just use a couple of thick flat washers and a short 12.9 grade cap screw on each side seperately - the long through bolt is only 8.8 grade and should never be torqued more than the specs - 33 lbs-ft
Hitting the bushes with a hammer is likely to bend the A-arm ..........

[jordan]

Originally Posted by opelgtworld Polyurethane bushings and an old bolt... Do yourself a favour and use rubber bushings

why rubber bushings ever anymore?

[Lasse H]

Thanks again for good information to everybody. Only new bolts I ordered were the long upper control arm bolts. Thought I could happily use everything else because nothing was stuck when I disassembled front suspension and all parts were pretty much rust free. Is there other bolts that really should be replaced?

PU bushings I chose because they were cheaper than rubber, easier installation and color matches the car.

Edit: I used vise with rest of lower control arm bushings. One went in very nicely. 3 others not and stopped 2-3mm before bottoming. Maybe more force would have done the trick but I don't want to break anything more at the moment. Looked liked they were not completely straight with metal sleeve. Maybe control arms are somehow bent a bit? Luckily at least upper control arm and spring end bushings fit beautifully.

[simplemind7]

hey, i just broke the same bolt while trying to take it out

how did you get it out of there?

[namba209]

Originally Posted by simplemind7 hey, i just broke the same bolt while trying to take it out how did you get it out of there?

Do a search for the "bolt from hell". You'll find out how many of us have been there, done that.

[simplemind7]

Originally Posted by namba209 Do a search for the "bolt from hell". You'll find out how many of us have been there, done that.

oh, i was never sure which one you guys were talking about, i thought it was the one that connects to the crossmember with a nut on one side. thats the one i'm having the most trouble with. i'll take a look for it