69 c10 trailing arm nuts

[rick0312]

any suggestions on removing the nuts from the rear trailing arms. I have been hitting all the nuts with penetrating oil for the last week. I plan on using a breaker bar, but the nuts that connect the arms to the mid frame brace are a little hard to get to. has anyone had any success just cutting these bolts off? If they were cut what did you use to cut the nuts? also, does anyone know the sizes of these nuts that connect the trailing arm.

thanks

[matthufham]

heat it up and try, or just cut it off

[68haywagon]

Rick to the board from another PA member. I had to heat mine and then stand on the breaker bar and jump. One bolt snapped, the other broke loose. My shin hurt for a week because of the one that snapped Where in PA are you located?

Mike

[COBRO]

1-1/8" for the bolt and nut - I did the same as in soaking for several days with lube and got mine broken loose with with a 2ft. 1/2"drive breaker bar and that was laying under the truck. If it was easy it wouldnt be fun!!!!!
Good luck to ya.::::::::CB

[68haywagon]

Oh yea...I also took my bed off when I was doing that.

Mike

[rick0312]

thanks for the help I'll try the 2ft. breaker bar and then go to heat and if all else fails I'll start cutting.

Rick

[Joe67]

I agree, heat and a breaker bar (or pipe) for some leverage.

Good Luck

[cdowns]

i think those nuts are locknuts that's why they're so hard to come off i always have used a 3-4 foot pipe extension to remove them

[COBRO]

All Ive ever seen had lock washers from the factory,think its more of 30+ years of rust,grime and grit.Still a bugger to get broke loose no matter the reason. I had way more trouble getting the rear bolts off the U clamp at the axle,same breaker bar with a 6ft cheater pipe and all I could do to get it to break loose.::::::::::::CB

[kelsfine69]

I have also started to remove them with no luck. I plan on hitting the nuts with a little heat, but If the nuts come off are the bolts seized in the bushing??. And if I have to cut the bolt out then how hard is it to pull the trailing arm with the center of the bolt sill in there??

These are going to be a real

[68haywagon]

Originally Posted by kelsfine69

These are going to be a real

Yes, yes they are!! I still have my scar If you get the nut off, just beat the thread side of the bolt with a BFH and it will come out. Getting the nut off was the hardest part of the whole job.

Mike

[rick0312]

i was able to loosen the nuts at the crossmember with a 18" breaker bar and a 1-1/8 in. socket. the U-Bolt nuts did not budge as I tried the same technique on them!! It's off to home depot to purchase a long pipe.....I'll keep all updated. Is it possiple to crack the U-Bolt nuts with a nut cracker or are they heat treated? these suckers are comming off one way or the other!!

Rick

[68haywagon]

I had to cut one u-bolt because I could not get it to budge. The other one took an 18" breaker bar, about a foot of pipe, and my legs pushin while I was laying on the ground.

Did you get new bolts yet?

Mike

[rick0312]

yea thats my situation flat on my back under the truck...i am sure if I had her up on a lift i could crack these nuts!! I'll try the pipe on the 18" bar and see how that goes.

no new bolts yet any suggestions?
68haywagon are you from levittown?

[68haywagon]

Yes sir, L-town is my hometown. I spend most my time in W-B though because of school. I had to get my u-bolts made at Mercer Spring in NJ. I bought my trailing arm bolts from a private auto/ammo store. I couldn't find grade 8 bolts, so I was wondering if you did. I only have grade 5 holding the trailing arms to the crossmember...I definitely want to change that this spring.

Mike

[rick0312]

one other question....when i finally get these nuts off I plan on changing the arms,springs and shocks. Does the rear end need to have the weight off of it when i replace the sprigs or can I leave it on the ground and place a jack under the control arm and let the jack take the spring pressure off?

Thanks
Rick

[68haywagon]

Let the rear drop down as far as it will go. You don't want any pressure on the springs.

Mike

[rick0312]

I live in warrington township not far from levittown...grew up in NE Philly.............did you try LMC or Chevyduty for the U-Bolts and nuts? i know they carry the hardware for this job. I am trying to locate new trailing arms or used ones that are in good shape. Any local salvage yards you can reccomend that might carry the arms?

thanks
Rick

[68haywagon]

I searched for my arms. I ended up getting them from Ed from Mothertruckers. I didn't have time to wait for LMC to screw up my order and the Chevy dealer recommended the spring shop for the u-bolts. I just checked my LMC catalog and the u-bolts were cheaper by a buck or two locally and I had them in 5 minutes. I guess I'll order my bolts from someone. There are a few yards I'll peak at when I have a chance to get there. Probably won't be for a while though.

I may be moving to Warrington after I graduate this May....hopefully have a job lined up.

Mike

[rick0312]

are there any salvage yards in the area that you can reccomend.

thanks
rick

[Willy Prost]

I picked up grade 8 bolts, nuts and washers for the front arm mount from Tractor Supply Co. A good auto parts store should have these also.

I went and found one of the old bolts from the front mount. The measurements are:

1 1/8 in hex
3/4 in diameter
4 1/2 in length

I just cut my old u-bolt mounts enough to make them snap off easily. I had an unfortunate incident with reusing u-bolts for the rear axle with another vehicle in my youth. I wasn't interested in repeating bad history.

New axle U-bolts are available from one of our friendly board vendors. I picked mine up from Bill Athey in Front Royal, VA

[68haywagon]

I don't know of any yards down there....but 72 longbed has a set for sale http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=chassis+paint. I don't know where in SE PA he is but you could PM him about it.

Mike

[bisquik65]

Get the nuts cherry red with a torch,then get you a can of "PB BLASTER" that stuuf will get it done...best penatrant on the market..

[rick0312]

well....i did it! I replaced the rear suspension. pasenger side went pretty easy. I used a nut splitter from jc whitney to crack one of the nuts, but the cheap tool busted. I then fired up the recipricating saw and finished the job on the other nut. All of the new parts went in real nice. I had a bit of a battle with the driver side. I decided to break out my angle grinder with the cutting disk attached. the grinder worked great! cut threw the nuts like butter. My problems started when I realized that the driver side trailing arm was fused to the u-bolt from years of rust. It was a battle but she finally gave up! My advice for this project....just cut the nuts off and replace with new hardware...and be patient! i quess it's on to the front suspension now. Thanks for all of the advice.

Rick