Ever had parts rusted together?

[e30onBBSs]

I don't think there is much I can do but have you ever taken something apart and can only go so far? I pulled the driver side front strut and it was smooth sailing. I was ready to take the shock out, anndddddd fused to the strut?! Ever happen to any of you?

I plan on still going GC coilover conversion until these blow then getting billy's later with "new used" struts

[Das Delfin]

Lots of things on my car have fused together. What I did with my struts is leave everything on including the brake rotor when you remove it from the car. Then bolt it back up to the wheel with two of the lug bolts. Set the wheel face down on the ground and sit on it while using a huge pipe wrench to undo to octagon-shaped retaining collar. Douse it with pb blaster and let it sit for as long as you can before trying to undo

[lukeADE335i]

Nope - haven't had that problem with the e30 - but living in one of the driest places in the world has to have some advantages :)

[exhaust]

Had this the other day. My steering knuckle was rust welded to the steering column which made my rack swap five times as difficult

[e30onBBSs]

shit sucks! My friend texted me "the joy of working on old cars"

#e30

[Kershaw]

This was probably 5 years ago, first time I replaced the suspension on my current IX. Strut was so rusted to the shock nut. Large monkey wrench wasn't working, it just rotated and stripped the metal. I used an angle grinder to cut notches into shock/shock collar so it was flat on two opposing sides. I put the monkey wrench into that, fully seated, then used about 6' of pole as a breaker bar on the monkey wrench and another 6 feet of pole through the wheel bearing to help hold it in place on the vise (2 people.) So we had basically 12 feet of breaker bar at use. Straining on that set up for 5 minutes got it to slowly break free.

Copious use of pb blaster too. That was an absolutely ridiculous experience.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

You Haven't replaced a rear subframe have you? The aluminum bushing inserts fuse themselves to the chassis 9 times out of 10

[Steven]

You Haven't replaced a rear subframe have you? The aluminum bushing inserts fuse themselves to the chassis 9 times out of 10

This. Replacing subframe bushings was one of the worse jobs I have ever done on my e30 including shaving my bay.

[stonea]

You Haven't replaced a rear subframe have you? The aluminum bushing inserts fuse themselves to the chassis 9 times out of 10

I've never come closer to selling my car after I ran into this.

[Click]

I think I used a 2 or 3 foot pipe wrench plus torch to get my original shocks out.

I just replaced the o2 sensor in my e28 yesterday and that was a mother. Even with the big 3/4" breaker bar and torch it wouldn't budge. Ended up cutting the sensor in half and lowering the exhaust enough that I could get the impact wrench on it.

Having subframe bushings sitting on the shelf to be installed, I'm looking forward to the job based on all the rave reviews in this thread.

[TobyB]

Even better is where the stud rusts, expands, welds itself to the bushing, THEN the whole mess
electrolyzes itself together.

I had to drill all the way up BOTH sides of the bushings to get one off. And then replace the stud...

On an otherwise clean(ish) car, even by NW standards.

t

[exhaust]

Leaf spring bolts on my Tacoma. Toyotas already rust but add salt belt corrosion and even the oxyacetylene had trouble.

[mrsleeve]

short answer
YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I have an old landcruiser and have owned 4 e30s and 15+ other vehicles all from the Midwest or northern states

[estoguy]

You Haven't replaced a rear subframe have you? The aluminum bushing inserts fuse themselves to the chassis 9 times out of 10

Guess I got lucky, had no problems with this.

Worst rusting of parts I've dealt with was the retaining rings on my front struts - I think these were still the original ones, so they'd been in for 30 years. I had to use penetrant and a long Stilson wrench to get them off... this was close to 3 feet long. I put krown rust spray on the new rings when I installed them.

[slammin.e28]

Land Rover pls.

The English didn't believe in captive nuts until like 2001.

......and they fucking rust.