Suspension bolt troubles

I'm trying to remove the rear coilovers off one Golf to fit to another yet I'm having problems with both bottom shock bolts. I e got the nuts off both sides but the bolts just don't want to come out, they turn freely enough but won't wind out and I've tried knocking them out with a punch but that hasn't worked either, room is tight in behind the drum aswell which makes it more difficult.

I've soaked them both in penetrating oil but its not helping much. Heat is out of the question because I'll end up melting the bushes. They've been on the car for a number of years and the cars been sat around for a good few years also so I think they kinda made themselves at home in there. I managed to get the fronts off but a couple of the bolts on them were really difficult to get out but I was able to give them a good whack with a hammer and eventually they broke free.

I'm not sure what else to do now other than hope the oil eventually makes its way in and releases them, any ideas welcomed???

Cheers

Si

You could wind the nut back onto the bolt a bit then try hitting that with the hammer directly to get it moving then use the punch after. 

What about a socket over the bolt head, loosen the nut off and use a G clamp to force the bolt loose, one end of G clamp over the nut and the other end on the socket should force the bolt head up into the socket when you wind the G clamp shut, well in theory anyway, good luck mate

I forgot to mention, one nut snapped off and the other I cut off so none of the above will work lol

Can't see why they won't slide out if turning freely?

They usually rust to the bush and wont even turn let alone come out. Can only think they have rusted to bushs inner steel ferrule and that's not attached to the rubber and turning but stopping it slide out?

Half the ones I've done have had to be hacksawed out and new bolts used.

That sounds like what could have happened. If I use my impact gun on them then you can see the bottom of the shock moving up and down slightly inside the hub with the bolt turning, you don't notice it if turning it by hand. So it sounds like it could have that'd to the inner sleeve.

Any ideas on how to get round this?

Could you cut the heads off the bolts and try drifting them out the other way?

Hacksaw blade threaded through inside of trailing arm, saw through both sides of bolt without sawing into  trailing arm. If you just  cut off the bolt head and nut from the 'outside' of the arm, the remains of the bolt is still trapped in the trailing arm. Will be even more fun if the bolt's rotating whilst you are trying to start sawing it. Welcome to the world of old Golfs.

I'll give that a bash. If that doesn't work I'll have to resort to heat I think and just melt the bushes but it's not the end of the world as they'll be getting sent away over the winter to be rebuilt anyway, I just fancied fitti g them for a bit before hand.

I've been part of the old Golf world for many years now and come across many problems but never this one, I'm sure there's still plenty more to come lol.

Thanks for your help guys.

It does seem to be a common problem as read about it lots so when rebuilding the rear suspention put a good smear of copper grease on the bolt so it does not rust in there.

Yeah I sure will. I've bought new stainless nuts and bolts so that should help aswell.

Mcdubber1 said

Yeah I sure will. I've bought new stainless nuts and bolts so that should help aswell.

Dont use stainless bolts for safety critical parts - its brittle - use the correct rated high tensile steel nuts and bolts.

Really? I never knew that. I'll need to purchase some new steel one's then.

Still not got them out yet anyway. I cut the bolt heads off and tried knocking them out the other way but the punch I had was pathetic so I bought a new set of punches from Machine Mart today, if they don't do the trick I will have to resort to heat and just melt the bushes, nothing else for it unfortunately