Suspension upgrade Qs for '65 coupe

[DeltaMustang65]

Well, I went and got a hefty engineer's hammer and beat the hell out of this thing, and STILL no luck. I'm pretty much taking turns between that, cranking on it with the pickle fork, and soaking it in penetrating oil.

I had the thought of cutting through these with my angle grinder. I suppose I could slice the top and bottom of the bolt off, and maybe try to stab or even drill the bolt out of the spindle. I'm really ****ed off about this because these are now the only things holding me back from being done. The upper arms are ready to come out. I was actually working on them lately so as not to be driven insane by the lowers.

[bmxmon]

check this out: Mustangs Plus - Shock & Fall! - Page 1

[DeltaMustang65]

I've read that article several times, and that's exactly what I've been doing. Remember, I live about 10 minutes from MP (hooray!).

I think the problem is that the suspension has never been apart. The article mentions something about it being 3 years since theirs has been apart, and it only took 3 whacks. Well, I'm pretty sure it's been 42 years since mine was apart (right before it was assembled), but 42 whacks has long since passed.

*grumble*

I'll go at it again tomorrow, I have work today. Maybe I'll just keep hammering it until it's no longer recognizable...

[bmxmon]

Oops, sorry! Thats gotta rock living that close to them...

[DeltaMustang65]

I don't know if the joint finally had enough, or if I found a secret magical method to separate it. Anyway, I had the spindle hanging from the upper arm while connected to the steering, and I disconnected the lower arm from the car again. I decided to rip apart the rubber sleeve around the joint in preparation to cut the bolt in half. However, before that, I decided that since I'm going to destroy the bolt anyway, I might as well make one last attempt to knock the bolt down by hitting it from the top (normally a no-no). I didn't have to worry about the bolt mushrooming now, you see.

This time, I folded up a greasy rag and placed it on top of the bolt to soften the blows, and got ready to beat the living crap out of it. I warmed up by first giving it a few light whacks. 1, 2, 3, the 3rd one wasn't even full force, maybe half. To my surprise, the arm dropped to the floor.

I'm not sure, but I think I might be the proud owner of a magic shop rag. I'll find out for sure tomorrow, when I try the rag first thing on the passenger side arm. If it comes off easy, the rag has magic powers. If it takes forever like the driver's side arm, then it's just a plain 'ol rag.

Moral of this story: Don't listen to anyone. Go ahead and hit that mother-*&%$in' bolt directly from above! The lower arms aren't rebuildable, anyway.

[rwhite65]

Glad to hear you finally got it!!

[DeltaMustang65]

Well, it turns out the shop rag isn't magical after all.

I set everything up to duplicate the conditions of the driver's side, did my best to pound that thing into oblivion, but it didn't work.

My pickle fork kit worked, though. I ended up trying to use the small fork end thingy, which I wasn't able to get around the bolt before. I was able to get it to fit by ripping the rubber boot off like I did to the other side, and hammering it on. It didn't want to fit at first, and it didn't want to come off after I was able to spread the joint apart with it, but it worked.

The good news is that everything is just about ready to be installed when I get around to it again this weekend.