[Midlife]

Well, I decided to tackle the dreaded rear spring front bolt. Having read all the horror stories here on VMF, I gathered up some saliva, spit upon my hands, and got out my tools. Took the nut off, and noticed the bolt backed out. Hmmmm. Used a pry bar to take out the rest of the bolt, and the spring dropped right down. Total time spent: 2.5 minutes.

So why was it so easy? Well, the car is up on the lift, and the rear bolt was removed. The spring was hanging down. When I picked up the bottom of the spring, I'd hear a nice creak as the bushing rubbed on the bolt. Aha! Rotating the spring relative to the bolt breaks the rust bonds, and allows the bolt to come out relatively easy! So, the key is to rotate the bolt relative to the spring, and all should be well. Amazing. (Well, at least it worked for me! /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif)

 

[theboogins]

Mine sorta worked the same way-I never had much trouble getting those bolts out-I did the easy end first.

Hot down there?

J. Boggs

 

[Midlife]

It's hot outside, but inside the garage, it's a nice 74*. Unfortunately, I have to keep the door open while I strip undercoating with gas and elbow grease. Not bad at all...

 

[TrixSlice]

Some are lucky ;o)

I live in Cali, and the car was made in San Jose, however, the darn bolt wouldnt come out.

I finally had to use a Sawzall and cut both sides of the bolt from the spring, and dropped it straight down.

Now that I can see the bolt from the cutaway side, it would have been impossible to break the bolt any other way. It was practically welded onto the spring in rust and age.

My other side was easy though

 

[Russstang]

uuuuuuh-huuuuuh-huuuuuh-huuuuuh....not SO WD-40 breath! Mine, too, was welded bolt to bushing with an imperrrrrrrrrrmeable bond... I even clamped mine to my vice after cutting it out and applied the proverbial BFG to it and it STILL would not budge. Yours obviously was an exception to the rule, no doubt because the spring/bolt confluence was never subjected to side loading.....such as taking a curve over 35 MPH/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif!!

 

[Guest]

Mine slid right out too. And everything else was a rusted mess. But Damn.. I do love having the garage at a nice 74 degrees too! Must have been 98 outside yesterday. But I was cutting off door skins and wire brushing rust in preperation for the POR-15 in 74 degree A/C!

 

[kketell]

They don't always get stuck.

When I changed my springs the first time the driver side was easy. The passenger side was virtually welded in. The bolt has rusted/bonded to the sleeve in the bushing, which prevented the bolt from coming out. I could rotate the bolt all day long, but the sleeve just spun with it.

Time for the sawz-all...

 

[66conv6]

I had NO problems with my bolts. They came right out.

Lucky me I guess.

 

[Guest]

Never much of an issue replacing the front bolts and I've been through two sets of rear leafs now. Changed the originals back in 94 and then upgraded again in 2001 after about 50k.

Guess it's like most parts on a 35 year old car. Some are going to be sons-of-bitches and others will treat you real nice. And though I love talking dirty while working under my 'stang, I'm always glad when she treats me nice.