The big lower A-arm bolt is one with the cross member.
hosed it in metal loosening goop (pb-blaster), thumped it with hammers up to 20 pounds...not even a squeak. from the looks of the other bolt it is tapered, so cutting the head off and driving it out toward the rear of the car is not an option and putting heat to the cross member sleeve makes me nervous.
any suggestions?
thanks,
-erik

Is it seized in the axle or in the bushes? Personally I've never had one seize badly in the axle.

If you get violent with it have a good look at how it's constructed, there are small tubes coming out of the axle.

I once bought a 120 wagon that drove a bit strangely. Someone had cut the bolt and chopped part of the axle tube. They then bent the wishbone to compensate. Boy was I impressed.

I have had to resort to cutting the bolt once or twice, air hacksaw is the tool of choice. However only resort to that once you have it turning and are sure its seized on the bush. I cut between the wishbone and axle the remainder of he bolt came out easy, it's a last resort though.


Regards

Pete

A buddy and I spent 4 days with my 164 in Panama doing that. It was pretty
tough going.
Heat to the sleeve is a GREAT help. We were only able to turn mine while
hot for the first day. With continued heating, twisting, oiling, hammering
we finally got it out. Although it was slightly bent it was still usable.
On the 164 the threads are 9/16"-18UNF, same a spare steering tie rod I had
cut in two to make a jack handle. I used the leftover piece screwed onto
the end of the bolt as a driving aid. The swaged end was small enough to fit
into the hole for a couple inches. By the time we got it to move that far
we were most of the way done.

My recommendation after you get it out is to swab the rust out of the hole
(bore cleaner works if you happen to be in an artillery unit) and clean the
bolt very well before it (the replacement?) goes back in. Grease the bolt and
the hole liberally with MARINE grease upon reassembly.
(Restricting the use of the car to the inland desert southwest is a workable
alternative.)
--
George Downs, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Central US

Erik;

The bolts are not tapered, but you are looking at the result of 30+ years of rust which is probably uniting the two pieces as good as any weld would....the rubber bushings and nylock nuts effectively also serve to keep loosening oils out of where they need to get to...

...it's a bear of a job to remove the bolts at this point, and as far as I know, there's no real slick, simple solution...about the only thing I can suggest is to drill some small (1/8") access holes into the through-bushings from below and blast in liquid-wrench or pb-blast, or WD-40,50, or whatever every day for about a week, then apply the biggest breaker bar on the bolt head to try to get it freed up...and be carefull you don't flare the end of the bolt so much that you can't get it through the bushing...you will likely waste the bolt in the process of extraction anyway...heat, brute force, patience, perseverence, are the operative words...

...a last resort which has worked for me, is to cut the head of the bolt (this gives access to getting lubes into the joint too) and by TIGHTENING the nut on the other side draw it thorough the hole (the bolt is not threaded all the way, so you will need to remove nut and add spacers as you go, replace nut, draw out, repeat...the rust will keep it from spinning).

It's a B***H of a job, and all I can add is that if anti-seize had been used in assembly, this would have been a pit-stop job...!!

Good Luck

" ...a last resort which has worked for me, is to cut the head of the bolt (this gives access to getting lubes into the joint too) and by TIGHTENING the nut on the other side draw it thorough the hole (the bolt is not threaded all the way, so you will need to remove nut and add spacers as you go, replace nut, draw out, repeat...the rust will keep it from spinning). "

Good idea! I'd not thought of that one before, but it sure sounds slick. And of course, if the bolt spins, that means the rust is broken, and the bolt can be extracted...

For that reason though, you would of course not want to wreck the threads with that hammer...

I'll keep that on in mind for rainy day for sure...

-Matt
--
-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC

We can't all be geniuses.

I'm going to try that on my VERY reluctant lower trailing arm bolts on the rear end! I have NOT been able to trun them much less drive them out and all my efforts have only caused one of the rubber bushes to shear (making replacement mandatory, now).

Mike!

Ouch... sorry, but it sucks to be you...

I've never had that problem, but more than a few friends have. In one case, the only solution was removing the whole crossmember and taking it to a machine shop to have it pressed out. Of course, by that time the bolt was wrecked from hammering, both ends had been ground and/or broken off...

I'd keep trying were I you. Mentioned above is an absolute last resort.... In any case, it is not unlikely that you'll have to replace the bolt, so beating on it harder probably won't hurt you too much.

Good luck with it! Seems not entirely uncommon on 122s and 1800s. Probably caused by letting the lower A-arm bushings to go a little too far south.

-Matt
--
-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC

Been there... took me 3-4 days of PB'laster, alternating with lots of propane heat on the crossmember sleeves, and plenty of torque on the bolts while hot to get a set of them loose once.

No damage to the bolts or crossmember resulted. You can bet I reassembled with liberal amounts of anti-seize compound.