Well my regular maintenence repair went as usual.... cruddy.

Sense I did not work today I thought that I would slap on some new shocks on the front. Started with the passenger side, not to much trouble, the only issue I had was that I had to use my pocket knife to cut out the top rubber isolator (it appeared to be the original ford shock and isolator).

Thinking that one went smooth the Driver side should go just as smooth. Boy was I wrong.

Like the previous side, I doused everything in PB Blaster and let it soak in real well. I go to remove one of the lower nuts and snap. I didn't use that much force and the bugger just broke!

I took a break and sprayed the snot out of the other nut and let it soak in.

I started thinking what the heck I could do. I finnaly thought that If I could get the other one off, I could install the shock and drive it to a shop where they could cut out the old bolt and install a new one.

After about a half hour I went after the other lower nut. And guess what, SNAP the same thing happened!

Now there is no way to install the front shock. I tried Drilling out the old bolts, Banging the old bolts with a screwdriver and hammer, Die Grinding one of the heads off that I could get at without dissasembling everything and drilling that out. I don't know what the heck those bolts are made of but I went through 6 bits (1/8-3/16) and they barely scratched the surface.

I am out of freaken ideas how to correct this, especially with the Aero immoble.

Am I going to have to yank the lower A arm and replace it? If so, that does not look like a fun job.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

 

buy a 1/4" tungsten carbide drill bit. expensive but will use in lots more apps.

replace bolts with 7/32 or 1/4" grade 8. i use moly wheel bearing grease on the threads so they are easy to take off next shock change. double nut if you are concerned about them working loose.

Ford used tough bolts here because of suspension load and road pounding on 2 small bolts and they must have used some of their famous permanent thread lock.
the OEM pressurized nitrogen Ford shocks adds to the bolt load

 

I was using carbide Tip drill bits.

Do they make Kryptonite bits? Because these things are stronger than superman.

I did pick up some replacement bolts/nuts/washers/lock washers, planning on just drilling through the sucker quickly and being able to install the new hardware, which did not happen.

BTW the highest grade they had on hand at the parts store was Grade 5. Do you think those would hold or should I go for Grade 8 for safety's sake?

And I have been slapping anti-seize on everything that I have been working on for future replacement easement.

 

If there are thread lock on the bolts, a few seconds with a blow torch should soften them up. You need to make sure you don't hit the shock body, as that can cause them to blow up. I'm guessing yours probably rusted themselves together, which also weakened the bolts.

You should really find some grade 8 bolts to replace the originals, as there are only 2 of them that will have to stand up to the pounding on the suspension on each side.

I haven't looked at mine for many years, but are the tops of the bolts welded to the control arms? If so, you can try grinding off the welds (after removing the springs), and then try to pound them out with a center punch. This may be easier if you can pull the arms off and hold them on a bench, or some other stable platform.

 

well, you can use nibbler to cut shock bolt heads and use new clip nuts and bolts. Ford use 6 ore 8mm bolts there.

 

I picked up some grade 8 5/16" bolts from Menards. I got to thinking and I did not want to take the chance of them letting go while on a trip.

I also picked up a couple Cobalt drill bits that advertised for cutting through heavy steel. $7 a piece but well worth the price. They cut through the old bolts like hot butter.

I was able to install the new shock with minimal issues.


The lower A arm looks like a major PIA to remove. I am not sure if the bolts are welded in or screwed in with Ford's notorious lock tight. All I know is that I could not punch them out or grind them out.

Again thanks for all of your help and support. I do not know what I would do without you guys!

 

glad you got her fixed.
nothing like the ride of new shocks.

cobalt drills are good and can easily be resharpened by the home DIYer, Rockwell 65. the tungsten carbide would have cost you $20>$50 and required professional sharpening on diamond wheel. Rockwell 90+