On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 1:04 PM, Alan Felder <dieseldoofus@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am working on the front suspension of my 82 Diesel Westy, and have a
> question about some of the parts which I may not want to disassemble (to
> find out about).
>
> At the lower arm 251 407 153 B, there are three M10x80 Hex Head Screws N 010
> 480 2 on each side, which hold together the lower arm, the ball joint
> retainer 251 407 177 and the radius rod 251 407 059. �It is obvious that the
> lower arm is not threaded for these bolts but are the other parts? �Or, once
> the self-locking nuts are off and lots of penetrating oil later, will they
> slide (or punch) out the top or do they have to be un-screwed?
>
> So far, I have broken off the head off of one on the right side and the
> threaded extension with the nut on the other.
>
> --
> Not all those who wander are lost
>

Owch. I just went through that exact "hell". On one side, I only
twisted one of the bolt heads. The other side, I twisted off a nut.

To seperate the radius arm from lower control arm, I used a cold
chisel/hammer "wedging" it off working from side to side.

Good luck getting bolt remenants out of lower ball joint adaptors. On
mine, they were TOTALLY rusted on. I ended up using spare parts to put
my front end back together.

I'd strongly suggest taking the Lower BJ adaptors to someone with a
good press and Oxy/Acetelene setup to get bits out.

With damaged/stuck fasteners, removing lower BJ adaptors from lower
control arm is a minor PITA. Here's a page with my thoughts/pics of
this stuff (though late in the game, might have some useful info):

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/frontsuspension

Radius arm install notes/pics:

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/radiusarmnutnotes

Hope that helps

Neil.

-- 
Neil Nicholson '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"

http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/

http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines