srooper1980

Hey guys.. I promise I have searched like crazy and it appears I am the first person to have this issue

I decided to lower my car last year.. The back went down with no issue but the front posed huge problems.. the bolts were froze in the spring.. No there was NO tention on them.. the spring was completely removed from the car and they still wouldnt budge.. after exhausting all efforts I decided to just cut them off with a sawsall..

The car has always been too low for my last so I decided to remove the spring again.. This time I broke out the drill.. I went to drill out the old bolts so I could install the new C6 bolts I just purchased.. I soaked them in PB Blaster overnight and then hit it this morning.. I drilled completely through one bolt and it got so hot that the "cylinder" that is screws into fell out of the front spring.. same happened on the other side as well.. So now my front spring is missing the cylinders that the bolts screw into.. I'm going to guess the spring is garbage but I refuse to buy another one..

So my thought is that I can use the C6 bolt with a few washers under the pad to help raise the spring up off the control arm maybe 3/4 inch.. the with a large washer and nut at the top of the bolt simply snug it up.. I hope you can invision that and tell me if it sound like it could work..

leadfoot4

I know it's a "bubba" fix, but springs are expensive......


Get a new pair of delrin tipped spring adjusters from 'Hardbar', and install them with another pair of hex nuts and flat washers against the spring. It should work for a while....

Solofast

Yup, a "bubba" fix, but it should work.

I'd also get/make a sleeve to keep the bolt centered in the hole. If the bold can flop around in the hole it's going to make a mess of things in short order because it will walk around as the spring length changes and it will wear in/around the hole. I don't think that just putting a nut and bolt on top and bottom will keep it from starting to slide around, but if you can get a tight fit and keep it from moving that will be the key.

You can probably epoxy a sleeve in and with a good sized washer that is a tight fit epoxied on the bottom it could actually work just fine and should last a long time.

As long as what you come up with doesn't move relative to the spring it will work for a long time.

srooper1980

Here is the result of my little "rigging".. I found a metal sleeve to put inside the spring to keep it from getting damaged (good idea and thanks).. I cut it down to length and all worked out good

eldudereno

Had to do the same thing with mine 2 years ago, having to cut them off and drill them out. I've got a lathe in my workshop at home so it wasn't a problem making some new inserts/sleeves & feet for when I need a respectable ride height for my annual inspection. The rest of the time, I run with no bolts at all and can report no noticeable wear at all on the lower control arm. The lower insert is still on the spring, so there's no wear there either.