Bertrand Daoust

Jon,
I think this would work but I would cut in front of the shock. That way I would cut the pin on both side of the hub carrier. This would allow me to remove the suspension arm.
Then, I would try to remove the convex washers like you said and try to remove the pin. With heat maybe.
With the arm in hand, it would be easier to remove what's left of the pin in the front and back section of the arm.
Quite a job but no arm destruction!

Slowly I'll get those 2 F....ers out!

Thanks guys.

karl ruiter

On mine the seize point was the metal collar in the shock bushing to the pin. Even with the control arm cut away and only the shock and the pin left there is no way at all to move the pin in the shock collar.

jon928se

Too late for you now Bertrand and it was too late for me when I received the advice but I do recall that Wally P, suggested loosening the Nuts on the Pin then taking the car for a drive in the hope that the dynamic forces would unstick the corrosion.

Bertrand Daoust

Hi guys,

Both pins are finaly out!
Actualy, there is one out and the other one waiting on the bench to be taken out.

I had to remove both hub with the pin still inside and bring them to a friend who has a press and some good torch.
He was able to remove the first one using his 20 tons press and alot of heat cycle.
Has I brought him the second one today, he should do it this weekend or next week. Thank you very mutch François.

When I notice that there was no way that the pin(s) would come out from there using the basic methods - PB blaster and hammer, sledgehammer - I tryed to make the pin turn using two nuts together with my impact gun.
Broke the pin before the pin turn! Pic #1.

From there, I knew that I would need to remove the hub from there to be able to do the job.

Here is what I did after removing the hand brake pads, hand brake cable (had to cut it as it was seized inside the little tube!), unplugging the harness for the brake pad sensor, ABS and RDK sensors and disconnecting the ground from the hub for the same harness.
All the pictures are from the driver's side.

1) I cut the shock lower eye section. First at the back of the shock. Pic #2.
I used a Dremmel tool to do it.

2) Then cut the front side of the shock eye. Pic#3.

3) From there I was able to remove the shock after removing the 3 bolts at the top of the shock inside the car. Pic #4.

4) I removed the small metal part (pic#5) that was left of the shock using a punch and a hammer.

5) As the pin was seized in the hub section only on the driver's side, I only needed to cut the pin at one place. I cut it at the left of the shock section, close to the hub. I used a 4" grinder to do the job.
As I was not able to cut it completely - 4" was a bit to small - I finished the job with a hand saw. Pic #6. As the pin on the passenger's side was seized in control arm back section too, I had to cut the pin at two place. On both side of the shock.

6) After the pin was cut, I was able to remove the pin from the shock and the back section of the control arm.

7) I removed the 3 17 mm bolts of the control arm. The ones in front of the control arm. Then I removed the one near the mid muffler - had to drop the exhaust a litle bit to be able to remove that one.

8) I removed this one. Pic# 7.

9) I was then able to remove the control arm from the pin.

10) I removed the hub 32 mm nut using an impact gun.

11) And finaly was able to remove the hub/pin from the axel.

It took me about 3 hours to remove the second (driver's side). Not a bad job once you know what to do!

Now I need to order all the parts that I need and take everything all back together. Both front and back shocks and some suspension components are out. Time to do some cleaning!

And yes, I WILL PUT A LOT OF ANTI SEIZE EVERYWHERE, INCLUDING BOTH F...G PINS!

Thank you all for your help. Can't imagine doing all this without you / Rennlist.

Now it's time a beer. No for a few beers!

Bill Ball

Holy Mother of Corrosion!

EspritS4s

Congratulations! It looks like you ended up doing just about every combination of what was recommended and more. Congrats also for posting such a detailed followup.

Bertrand Daoust

Thanks Garry,
...If this whole adventure could be usefull to somebody else someday...

Leon Speed

I see a tube of alumimun paste in your future

Ninespub

I've got the same problem. DaveK9 couldn't get mine undone to install my new rear shocks and Eibach springs. I'm thinkin' that cutting all the old out and replacing it all with good used parts is easier and ultimately less work than spending 20 man-hours trying to save the old ****. Everybody's time is worth far more than bad parts.

Ad0911

O boy! What happy memorys of this particular job just came back to me! How about applying a light coat of epoxyprimer on the pins? And use anti-seize?

SRaouf

Just been through this so thought I would share my experience. My pins were seized solid and I went through the progressive steps of hammering, 20T press and finally cutting through the old shock and pin to get it out.
The only thing I want to add is that the main culprit in my case was the small spacers Item C in post 29 above which had both rusted on the pin and welded themselves to the aluminium hub carrier so It might be an idea to anyone going through this to see if they can free the spacers as a starting point in the future.

Mrmerlin

Based on the pictures in this thread not enough PB blaster is being used,
if they had theses pins would have come out but you have to presoak them for a few days.
The hole in the bottom of the hub carrier will assist in letting the fluid spread.

If you have any doubts about what it can do,
put a rusty nut in a cap and fill with the blaster the nut will come out corrosion free in a few hours.

NOTE you can also make a pin puller with some wrenches and washers,
so dont damage the threads by hammering,
once the pin breaks free then the rest is easier.

Marti

+1 worked for me including heating the hub. I had seizures between pin and fat washers

SRaouf

Yes I tried using nuts but the pin was so seized that it stripped the nuts and still wouldn't turn! I did use copious amounts of 50/50 acetone and transmission fluid but didn't use heat as I am reusing some of the bushes. After cutting it I finally managed to free it using a stud extractor chuck mounted on an impact wrench

C531XHO

Aha parallel world again except I am ahead of you! I was lucky the pins on my car came out easily which I wasn't expecting as it's lived in the North most of its life and the suspension was a total rusty mess. Pins are so good that I can reuse them. Interesting to see you are planning to reuse some bushes. I am tending that way too esp the Weissach bush..
D