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frozen toe bolts


kaluce

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I finally got around to doing the Outback XT to LGT suspension swap, and tried to get an alignment last week. The shop I went to said that the alignment wasn't going to happen due to the toe nuts and bolts being rusted out.

 

Anyway, I took a look and tried to get the rear toe bolts off, since I found those early on. They are REALLY in there, and there doesn't seem to be a way to get them off. I can't cut them because the rear diff is close by, and I'm worried about torching them for the same reason.

 

How does one normally get all these frozen bolts off?

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Feel free to torch them, I doubt the diff will heat soak enough for it to be a problem. That being said, I wouldn't torching them will make a difference. It's pretty common to have cut out toe bolts in these cars. I ended up having to use a dremel and about half a dozen cutoff wheels to get the damn thing off. It was a mess of a four hour ordeal. On the bright side, replacement bolts from the dealer are about $20!

MTBwrench's Stage 3 5EAT #racewagon 266awhp/255awtq @17.5psi, Tuned By Graham of Boosted Performance

 

Everyone knows what I taste like.
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I would be less concerned about the diff. and more concerned about the fuel lines above the passenger side nut. the nut is on the other side of the sub-frame towards the front of the car away from the diff.

 

just use common sense, heat rises, don't torch up towards the fuel lines. I'm also refering to a 3rd gen, so they could be in a different location for 05+.

 

got one side off with heat and stripped the other side out and finished rounding it off with bolt extracters from erwin. gonna try some more heat and vice grips, then move on to nut spliters, and will then try and grind the nut off as a last resort.

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got one side off with heat and stripped the other side out and finished rounding it off with bolt extracters from erwin. gonna try some more heat and vice grips, then move on to nut spliters, and will then try and grind the nut off as a last resort.

 

I actually didn't round either side's nuts yet, but I've shattered a HF socket wrench trying to get it off, admittedly doing something extraordinarily stupid. Honestly, I'm thinking about taking it slow and grinding the nut off would probably be the best, if MTB is correct. it seems honestly like it would be the easiest.

 

I also considered dropping the rear subframe out of the back of the car and slicing the bolt off from the top to avoid dicking around near the fuel tank. Considering I had the entire suspension apart for my OBXT to LGT surgery (and thus it wouldn't be that bad to get it all apart), but I didn't really like the idea of taking the driveshaft down again, and it seemed like a lot of work for something that should be easy.

 

I also considered buying and using an air chisel, since I saw an S2000 suspension video where the guy tapped it and it just came apart like butter. I don't know if that'll work on our cars though.

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I hate those toe bolts. Replaced mine about 10k miles ago, been about 1 year and they are stuck already. Makes me wanna just buy the adjustable toe arms, tough pill to swallow but worth it for sanity.

05 LGT 16G 14psi 290whp/30mpg (SOLD)

12 OBP Stock 130whp/27mpg@87 Oct

00 G20t GT28r 10psi 250whp/36mpg

22 Ascent STOCK

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  • 2 weeks later...
Bought a new set of arms, bushings, nuts, washers, and bolts. I started rounding the bolts. I've gotten past the point of diplomacy unfortunately and I'm going to have to slice the fuckers off now.
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Sure. This is for a 2005 LGT/OBXT wagon, It should be the same for all 05-09 MYs and the same for the sedan. I won't know if the arms include the bushings until tomorrow night, but they're pretty cheap at ~$3 per, so buy them anyway. why the **** not. Here is everything you might need. Honestly, the hardware is peanuts compared to the price of the arm itself ($45-ish from Subaru Genuine Parts) so you might as well get everything at once. I think for both sides WITH all the hardware it came out to around $110 shipped.

 

This list is PER SIDE, which means order two of the below if you want everything.

 

Rear Lower Control Arm: 20250AE01A

 

LCA to subframe hardware:

LCA Camber Bolt: 901700122

LCA Camber bushing: 20254AE01A

LCA Camber marked guide washer: 903100171

LCA Camber washer: *(20560AA011 ; 20560AA010)

LCA Camber nut: 902350006

 

LCA to Knuckle:

LCA to Knuckle nut (huehuehue): 902350006 (This is the same as the LCA Camber nut above)

LCA to Knuckle Bolt: 901000110

 

(*looks like there is 2PNs for this, I included both but one might supersede the other, IDK.)

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This thread is giving me nightmares about fixing this on my car

 

From what I can tell, if you've gotten an alignment at all during the life of the car, you hopefully will be fine because they should've used anti-seize on the bolts. But whoever owned the car before me never heard of anti-seize apparently.

 

Really though, most of the hardware on my car has been rotten as I've removed it, it's unsurprising that this is the same.

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