Getting this old track bar out of the XJ

[bradleyheathhays]

I developed a bit of death wobble in the old 96er recently and traced it to the driver side connection of my track bar, so I'm in the middle of getting it out. I've been soaking the passenger side connection in the picture below with PB for a while now, and it's still distressingly hard to turn. I can get the red bolt head to turn some using 4-5" worth of cheater bar on my 3/8" ratchet, but only until the yellow nut tab reaches it's limit of travel within the rectangular hole it protrudes through. I keep doing PB soaks, torches followed by cold water dousing cycles, but it's not getting any easier to turn at all. The nut is rotating with the bolt because the tab moves when I turn the bolt, so the nut is not what's holding it up. My best idea is that the bolt has rusted to the metal sleeve in the track bar bushing and that sleeve is rotating with the bolt, held by the friction against the rubber. I haven't even tried to rotate the bolt past where the nut tab comes in contact with it's limits as I'm almost putting enough torque on it to twist the head off already.

Any advice on working this thing?

Also, say the bolt head were to snap off. What would you do to get the bolt out? My only idea would be to try to push the bolt through from the head side with an awl or something smaller than the bolt diameter, then try to get an oscillating cutter up into that window on the right and piece by piece cut the end of the bolt off until it all comes through. Thoughts?

 

[jhenke]

Cut on both sides of the rubber bushing with a sawzall. Get a new replacement bolt and flag nut to go with the new track bar.

 

[bradleyheathhays]

That's exactly what I'm gonna have to do jhenke.

I haven't seen any of these newer design grease retention cups yet, and I want to make sure I didn't receive a defective replacement track bar. Is the rubber cup I'm seeing separated in the first pic supposed to 'seal' up and sit closer to the bar after installation, like in the second picture? The cup lip is sitting outside of the track bar lip here.



The cup lip is sitting outside of the track bar lip here...

 

[bradleyheathhays]

Well, this stubborn bolt has made for one heck of a success story. After numerous heating and cooling cycles, with PB applied in between, the nut finally loosened from a very hard lock. To pay back for the help, I'll give some golden advice here that I've rarely ever seen mentioned. Dousing a bolt/joint with cold water right after heating with a torch is even MORE effective at breaking up rust crystals than the initial heating. The reason is that you're trying to achieve incongruous movement between the two metal surfaces through whatever method you can. Heat makes things expand, thus disrupting the crystals, but cold water applied makes the metal change size (shrink) much more asymmetrically (key word) and quickly than the original fire, and does just as much good breaking the crystals as the heating. I've been using this method for a very long time now and can't recall anyone giving this water dousing advice for at least the last decade of being on a good many internet auto forums.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Interesting technique. Do you find that the cold water (how cold are we talking - "out of the fridge" cold, or just "ambient temperature" cold?) works better than dousing with ambient-temperature penetrant?

 

[75SV1]

Also, interesting on the heat and cold. Makes sense. I have sprayed PB Rust blaster or such on the bolt, after I have heated it. Also, there is the Freeze Off stuff. I haven't tried it yet.
As to the grease shields, yeah they position like you have them in the second picture.

 

[bradleyheathhays]

Rob. I treat a stuck bolt like treating a cold. I use a few different 'natural remedies' and they each do their own significant part. I've heard that some bolts can be so thoroughly rusted that penetrating oil may not actually penetrate until after the joint is cracked, so that's something to keep in mind. My three treatments are torch/garden hose water (the colder the better), air hammer and PB blaster. Also, putting your torque gun on a lower setting than what's gonna break the bolt loose and working it that way is helpful. So torquing might be considered a fourth technique.

My process goes the same everyday until the thing comes loose. Get it hot, put the torque gun on it set on low, or alternatively, a chisel hammer. Vibrate the junction however you can. Then douse with water and hit with the torque gun again. Spray with PB and let sit overnight. Repeat everyday with patience. The bolt I was having trouble with on this project showed no loosening progress at all until about day 6. +4 more days of working it over and it was out. Can't tell you how many times I've had to learn that patience lesson though!

 

[75SV1]

I'd just add to loosen and tighten the bolt. Sometimes, I drill a hole through the bolt. Helps to let it shrink.

 

[bradleyheathhays]

75SV1...Yes! That's the only part I left out. Even if you have only a few degrees of turn, working back and forth is a great way to gradually break up the crystals at either limit of the bolt's range or rotation.