Rep Power: 0

I'm trying to remove my left front a-arm now because it's badly bent and I can't align my car without putting a new one on there.

I see it's on by 2 bolts and one nut but there's one under the knuckle with some kind of twisted cotter pin? Do I need to replace it if it breaks?

Can anyone give me some quick instructions about doing this? Don't wanna pay anyone to do this unless I have to.

Oh yeah, I did look at the DIY on energysuspension.com but the words are too small for me to read and it mentions nothing about that pin. Some input would be very much appreciated.

 
Rep Power: 343

The three bolts require a 19 mm socket wrench (I think)

The two bolts at the endlinks require a 14 mm deep socket.

The cotter pin has a long end and a short end It looks like |,

Pull the short end out of the hole with a pair of pliers... Then when the pin looks more like a V shape instead of a |, shape, pull out the pin at that corner of the pin where it starts to go into the bolt.

You might need to use your OEM floor jack to keep your brake held up high to ease assembling and disassembling the a-arm.

 
Rep Power: 343

To pull the knuckle out of the bolt, do NOT touch the rubber because if that breaks you are screwed. What I did was I put a hard piece of metal on the arm connected to the nut, and I banged on that metal with a hammer so that it would push the arm (nut included) down. Without touching the rubber.

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for your help. Those bolts are actually 17s, BTW.

Which part of the A-arm should I tackle in order? Will it make a difference?

 
Rep Power: 343

...

 
Rep Power: 343

Yea I forgot the bolt sizes but I do know that the endlink bolts are 14mm.

What I did was I supported the brake with light pressure from the OEM floor jack. Then I used the 17mm sockets to take off the two HUGE bolts from the huge parts of the control arm (closer to the engine). You will probably need a socket wrench extender (I did).

Once those are loose, taking off the part under the rubber knuckle is easier. But not that easy. Be sure your car is stable before you do anything because you don't want it to fall on your head. You'll be needing a LOT of umph to undo those bolts and well.. What I did was I put wood blocks on top of those tire ramps and rested my whole side of my car on that (that 2x4 looking metal bar running down the side of the car).

 
Rep Power: 343

To get the endlink bolts off, you may need a monkey wrench and one of those allen hex key things.

 
Rep Power: 0

I just got off the endlink bolts. lol, took forever with the A-arm still on the car.

Thanks for all your help! Definitely a money savAr.

 
Rep Power: 0

lol, they are 19s...

 
Rep Power: 343

Yea I did enlinks last.

me > 19mm socket > u

 
Rep Power: 0

Bleh, I cannot get that bolt off that's closest to the engine (that goes horizontally.) I tried jacking up the a-arm but it literally made the damage to it worse (it's on the arm where the bolt goes in horizontally.). It's stuck in the middle and I can't push it out with an allen wrench. It won't even go back in either.

I don't have a sheet of metal to bang a hammer against but I did find a block of wood. Good enough?

 
Rep Power: 343

Yea the block of wood is good enough. But since you'll be throwing the whole arm away anyway, it doesn't really matter how hard you bang/damage it right?

But I guess the wood will get rid of the ear-clanging noise. You can also put a regular wrench bigger than the threads of the screw.... on top of the bolt underneath the knuckle and bang on that wrench. Either way works.



About the horizontal bolt.... it's only threaded about 1/3 the way up the screw. The rest of the distance from the threads to the head of the screw is blank space. So the only thing that's keeping the bolt in the hole is pressure/friction. You probably already unthreaded the screw from the threads in the hole. Find like a screwdriver or something and put it beneath the screw head.... across the length of the screw at a 90 degree angle. Then pull it towards the screw head to help push it out. ----\-[] Like that.

You might also try banging the screw from the other end with a hammer and some sort of metal object. I think I tried method one and it worked best.

BTW... has your car been outta commission this whole time while u were waiting for my reply?

Hit me up at armieo0 on AIM if you have any more questions.

 
Rep Power: 0

My car has been out of commission since Feb. 6th.

Thanks for the reply. I'm gonna go try and get it out now.

And no, it doesn't matter if I bang on it cuz it's pretty much scrap metal now.

 
Rep Power: 0

I've come to the conclusion that I cannot get it off. The a-arm is so twisted, it's actually resting on the subframe. The bolt is stuck in there at an angle - the screwdriver did help push it out more (with some force) but once it got to the threads I head it kind of snap as it slipped. So I can't take it off forcefully and if I do, I'd damage the bolt. I've tried jacking up the a-arm but it did nothing to straighten the bolt so it could slide out. It looks really odd... I'll post pics in a minute.

I was thinking of setting the car down on the left side but I think it'd be quite hazzardous to remove the bolt with the car resting on one side and me under it.

 
Rep Power: 343

AIM me... armieo0


What snapped?

 
Rep Power: 343

Don't take it to the repair shop. They will encounter the same problem you have.

So it'll be up to you to fix it with all the trouble for free $0.00

Or up to them to take the trouble to fix it for a price. $X.XX

I would rather DIY it if I were you. Be creative.