LHS Sub Frame question

I'm having trouble with the sub frame bushings on the front end of a 96
LHS and any advice would be appreciated. I'm working on the rear set
of bushings on the front sub frame assembly.

I picked up the bushings today, two tops & two bottoms. These are the
heavy rubber bushings with the steel collars attached.

I started to loosen the bolt on the driver side and was making progress
but now I'm stuck. The bolt and whatever the nut is on top are now
just spinning as one unit. Something did back out/loosen because the
subframe has dropped 1/2 inch & can see the bolt between the subframe
& the top of the top bushing.

Basically right now I can not loosen it any more or tighten it back up.
Either way I turn both bolt & nut spin as one. I used a mirror to try
to see the nut and can see it but have not figured out how to get a
wrench on it. I'm not really sure what type of nut is used or if it is
supposed to fit into some type of slot or bracket that would hold it
while the bolt was being turned.

Any ideas?

I know I can pick up a new bolt at the dealer but right now I'm not
even sure how the nut would be held in place. I could see a couple of
little flanges of metal near the nut that may have somehow held it in
place but they look to be pointing a little upwward at this point.

I tried putting downward pressure on the subframe to see if that would
hold the nut but no luck. To be honest when I looked at the nut with a
mirror it and the bolt both looked so rusty I'm not sure that they ever
broke loose. That being said it is a little confusing where all the
slack came from that allowed the subframe to drop down 1/2 inch.

I'm pretty much stuck right now and when the wife gets home I'll have
to tell her the "quick fix" I had planned for her car won't be done
today

Thanks for any help

 

If my memory serves me correctly, (sorry, don't be mad at me for the bad
news!) those "bolts" aren't really bolts, and they were welded to the
frame... Hopefully someone can confirm or deny that fact, but I'm 90%
certain that is the case.

 

If my memory serves me correctly, (sorry, don't be mad at me for the bad

Thanks for the reply.

I don't think the bolt was welded, but maybe the nut was?

We replaced these bushings about 5 years ago & my buddy helped me do
it. My job was to jack the car up & put it in jackstands. He went
under the car with his air impact and the bolts spun right out. The
whole job was done in no more than 15 minutes. Unfortunately I did
not really get a look at the bolts. This time I was using hand power -
a rachet & a piece of pipe about 1 1/2 feet long.

Now I can see where maybe the nut was welded to the frame? That could
possibly be how it was held in place. If that's true and now that weld
is broke I've got a problem.

thanks again.

 

My suggestion to you would be soak them really good with penetrating oil,
some times you can let the weight of the frame keep those flat nuts from
spinning at the top. The other method I use is to get a big pry bar type
screw driver and hold pressure on the nut while loosening the bolt.
Good luck doing it on the ground.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

 

My suggestion to you would be soak them really good with penetrating oil,

Thanks Glenn.

You are right about being tough laying on your back. Not a lot of
access to where the nut is. But I think I can take from your post that
the nut isn't really "attached" to anything and at least I have not
made anything worse by what I did.

So it would seem that the bolt did back out for a ways then? That
would explain the 1/2 clearance between the bushing & frame. The sub
frame has certainly dropped down from where it started.

If I can't put enough pressure on the nut to hold it would it
reasonable to get a new bolt & nut and try to cut through the existsing
bolt where I have the 1/2 clearance to get at it?

Must have got lucky the first time we did this when the bolts spun
right out. Or maybe the imapct workd better than hand power.

thanks again.

 

I feel your pain. You will have to get a ahold of that nut insert thing
with some vice grips. Remove whatever you have to. Buy whatever kind of
vice grips they sell. There is no guarantee that you will succeed,
certainly. I got in the same situation you're in one time on the right
front, but I managed to get out of it with vice grips.

If the vice grips fail, you'd have to cut that whole fastener out any way
you can. There's a window in the frame to get at it, so it's not totally
hopeless.

 

You are correct... It was a LONG night, and had my terms mixed up. Yes,
the NUT, which I'm not sure if it really is a nut (at least the kind you can
stick a wrench on anyway,) was welded to the frame. Like I said, 90%
certain, but hopefully someone can confirm this.

I wonder if perhaps they were over-tightened when put back in? Impact
wrenches, depending on the kind, are seriously prone to this. Ever try to
get your lugnuts loose after a shop has put the wheels on your vehicle?

I'm pretty sure that is the way it was... I don't like dishing out bad
news, but unfortunately sometimes it happens like that, sorry...

 

man are u in a pickle
a torch will be your best friend in this case to make it easy other wise
you will be fighting to get it off now you have to i have had to cut the
sheet metal out to get to the fastner and then reweld a plate back in it
place of the one i cut out

 

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and ideas. What a nice thing to
be able to do. Very much appreciated.

Everyone of you was exactly right, I was in a world of hurt. Once that
nut starts spinning a guy at home laying on his back is going to have a
lot of trouble finishing the job.

Last night I knew I was in trouble so I limped the car up to the local
Chrysler dealer and I just got the call that the job is done. They
charged me 2 hrs labor for the job.

At least it's done. Again, thanks for your help.

 

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and ideas. What a nice thing to
be able to do. Very much appreciated.

Everyone of you was exactly right, I was in a world of hurt. Once that
nut starts spinning a guy at home laying on his back is going to have a
lot of trouble finishing the job.

Last night I knew I was in trouble so I limped the car up to the local
Chrysler dealer and I just got the call that the job is done. They
charged me 2 hrs labor for the job.

At least it's done. Again, thanks for your help.

 

Probably a bargain. Maybe the dealers have come up with a special
tool/trick to deal with the problem. Sounds like you did the right thing.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

That's not too bad, really!