U-bolt removal from trailing arms?

[HumphreyMurdoch]

Hey guys!
Tomorrow I'm going to be putting drop blocks under my axle and I'm looking for do's and don'ts for getting the U-Bolts out of the tailing arms. This is my first time with these trailing arms!

After 50+ years, assuming the rear end hasn't been removed, the U-bolts look like they've become one with the trailing arms.

What's your experience removing them? and what do you think of my plan.

I'm thinking of using a cutoff wheel above the arms just so we can get the axle out of the way and work. I'd like to heat the arms up a little, if simple persuasion or an air hammer? I don't want to damage the arms at all.

[NEWFISHER]

Soak them tonight with penetrating oil or 50/50 mix of diesel oil and atf. Then whack with the largest sledge you can effectively swing under the truck. Whalla!

[chevy_mike]

Yeah, you might find you'll have to cut them flush on the top side of the arm, beat/pry the u bolt off the axle (or slide the whole axle out and then use an air hammer to drive out the piece left in the arms. This way you don't have to pull the nuts off the u bolts, which if really rusty, you're likely not going to get off.

As said above, soak everything with penetrating oil (PB Blaster or the likes, not WD40) to the point it's dripping off everything.

Good luck!

[wjjeeper]

Soak with penetrating oil and tomorrow have at her. Impact on the nuts, then beat the living hell put of the ubolts.
When I did it I had frame sitting on stands and used jack to raise, lower rear end.
Also you don't need to unbolt shocks unless you're changing them.

[donthekawguy]

I soaked mine fo r 3 days, used a torch and impact and nothing worked. Ended up cutting them off. You should oder a set and have them on the way just in case.

[HumphreyMurdoch]

Right on guys! You've all said pretty much what I was thinking. Just want to make sure I don't damage anything.

Bummer part is I can't soak them with anything, truck is at a friends garage so I'll hose them down first thing when we get there to turn on the heater and head off for breakfast.

Thanks for all the input, I'll let you know who wins.

[dougf]

Good luck, thank god its in a garage, it was 2 degrees this morning on my way to work, and your not too far from me!

[HumphreyMurdoch]

I'm glad it's in a garage for now too, it dodged a bit of snow. Ya that isn't very far at all, my little thermometer read -1 this morning. I'm pretty much over this winter stuff already.

[NEWFISHER]

Lucky! I decided to take mine apart in -10 and in a building with curtains for walls.
Have fun, wear glasses and stay warm.
don't order chicken fried steak or biscuits and gravy....it stays with you all day

[Johnny Too Bad]

About to do the same thing tomorrow. Bought some U-bolts and blocks from way2lo2. Been dealing with negative temps all week, so hoping for warm enough weather tomorrow. After reading some of these posts, I'm getting a little nervous about being able to break 50 year old nuts loose without soaking. Let us know how it turns out.

[mark 66]

We recently did this very thing with my sons truck. I would suggest you go ahead and get new u bolts.ours looked ok while it was together but after we took it apart bolts were really rusted and weakened right where they go thru the trailing arm.

[wjjeeper]

For when you torque the new u bolts - http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=563413

[HumphreyMurdoch]

You better believe I got new u-bolts! Mine have lots of scale on them.

Thanks Wjjeeper, that's a handy spec I'll need today!

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go put a couple pairs of pants and a few pairs of socks on. It's nice and crisp out today. We've got a heater in the garage, but with 30+ foot ceilings and working on the floor, it's still gonna be cold! And I'm a weeny in the cold.

[wjjeeper]

Let us know how it goes.

[TJ's Chevy]

Yes please do lets us know! lol! I was able to remove one of the u-bolts from my axle, but the other wouldn't budge....not even under heat and a sledge hammer! lol.

[NEWFISHER]

Its been 4 hrs....hope it went well

[HumphreyMurdoch]

It went well and I learned a few tricks along the way.

But here's a couple pics of the remains of my old U-bolts.



Whataya mean I shouldn't reuse bolts!!?!? I'm sure they'll be fine.



What worked for me is I cut off the loop of the bolt from the axle and heated up the arms with a mapp gas torch. Not sure if that helped or not but warmed up the air under the truck. Then I grabbed a 1/2 impact and used the nut and bolt to break away the rust. If the nut came off I used an air hammer on the top or bottom of the bolt, and you can tell when its about to come out because a whole lot of rust and dust come pouring out of the arm and she sails right out!

All said and done the back is a little lower till I get new springs, hopefully in the spring.



Its not the best picture, didn't want to take it out of the garage with all the snow on the driveway still.

So I got that accomplished today as well as finishing up my T5 install, which I'll have more info on when I get some drives in and more pictures.



Thanks all you guys for the input and suggestions! Couldn't be happier with the progress so far.

[chevy_mike]

Great job!

[joeydirt]

Looks good, I ran into the same issue on my c20. I soaked them with pb blaster just about every day for two week and it dident seem to do much of anything other than make lots of smoke once I got the torch out. I made the same cut as you and than put a breaker bar on it with a 6' cheater and broke them free, than I would beat on remainder of the u bolt with a punch, than spin some more, use punch, and repeat 4 hours later and 1 broken cheater bar I had them out....air tools really would have helped.

[MMiller1050]

I ran into trouble with this too. I used a cutting wheel to cut the top part of the u-bolt out. I soaked the shafts in PB blaster and after a day I used various jack stands to relieve all the pressure on the u-bolts and also removed the shock. Then I used a breaker bar with a 3 foot pipe as a extension and just tried to get the bolt turning in the hole that goes thru the trailing arm. Front one came out pretty easy after turning it back and form to chew up all the gunk and dirt that was in there....then I used a metal punch to tap it thru from the top and it fell out. What was left of the rear bolt was quite a bit harder, I actually had to use a screwdriver and a pick to get all the junk and rust pieces out of the hole in the trailing arm around the bolt. Clean some out......spray PB Blaster.....repeat. Until finally I was able to turn it back and forth to free it up. I punched it out from the top.

They are a bear just be patient. Turning the with the bottom nut one helped a lot. Just turn it back and forth until it feels pretty free....then try punching it thru with a punch or some sort of metal bar and a hammer and use a lot of PB blaster.