In general, when I have that situation, the bolt head must turn, whilst either one of the 2 things is happening;

a) a drift is inserted into the hole, and bolt end tapped with a hammer
b) outward leverage is made under the bolt head, an easy way is to pry with an open end spanner

at the same time, it helps a lot if no shear load is on the bolt from any parts, a few jacks in the right spot may be needed

My LCA took the above efforts, there is no way they should be pounded thru..the thread needs to be turning to clear the junction if the bolt is under shear force

its awkward to do this one your own, an assistant is most useful, of course I had to get by without one

 

This is probably what happened:



Rust has caused the bushing to expand and now the bolt is hopelessly stuck in the bushing. You can spend 2 minutes cutting the bolt on the inside with a sawzall or grinding the bolt flush and tapping it back a quarter inch, or spending a week trying other methods.

And then spending 2 minutes cutting the bolt on the inside with a sawzall or grinding the bolt flush and tapping it back a quarter inch.

OTOH, if you're sure that NOTHING is rusted, there is a tendency for the axle to rotate forward and that is what is causing the bolt to bind. Add a little tension to the spring perches (and take it off the differential) to offset this tendency till the bolt frees.

But I still would just spend 2 minutes cutting the bolt on the inside with a sawzall or grinding the bolt flush and tapping it back a quarter inch cause I like cutting the bolt on the inside with a sawzall or grinding the bolt flush and tapping it back a quarter inch.

 

There are two things I'm thinking.

1. I can push the bolt back in. And having seen the exact issue in your picture on the bolts for my leaf springs, this doesn't really feel like that. I could be wrong though. But in real life as in the pic i posted, the bolt, the UCA and the bushing seem in decent condition. They don't look like they're as old as, I dunno, the sway bar, for example.

2. I was doing this because I thought getting a little extra movement on my axle would be an easier way to get my coil springs out than using the compression tool. Now I'm not sure. So, A.) would this get me the extra movement I'm looking for, and B.) if I do this, am I screwing myself for getting these bolts back in? I didn't expect this trouble when the nuts came right off, and I feel like I'm on the verge of doing something stupid...

 

It looks like an issue of alignment. Use a pry bar between the u shaped channel and the bushing to place downward force on the bushing while pushing or pulling the bolt out of the sleeve.

 

Okay, thanks.

For the second question, will I have such a hard time getting this put back together that I should try to get it back together right now, before pulling it the last little bit, and try to use a spring compression tool? Will removing the upper control arms even give me the range of movement I'm looking for on the axle?

 

Relieving the tension on the UCA by gently jacking the perches moves the hole in one plane while moving the UCA up and down moves the hole in the opposing plane. The bolt will fall out.

Yes this is the easiest way the spring will just slide in.

Putting pressure on the bottom of the different case like that is what's creating more binding.

 

I removed mine without jacking it up. But it also has a 6 inch lift so there’s room. I also ratchet strapped the front axle to the rear axle and another strap to the rear axle of another Jeep that was parked in front of it. I still had to use the straps to pul the axle into place to get the bolt back in. And never remove more than one control arm at a time btw. I had the two upper bushings in the axle done at a shop and they made the mistake of removing both the upper axle sides at once. Even an experienced shop had a bear of a time getting the bolts back in.

 

thats a good tip.

here is a simple low tech way of relieving stress and aligning suspension parts;

loop a tie down strap (or loop of rope) between the 2 objects, then twist a screwdriver or spanner as a lever

presto it shortens the rope and draws the 2 items together with a lot of force,,lock it of by wedging the lever in place

especially good for horizontal plane, where jacks are not practical

 

If you follow my suggestion you are using a spring compression tool. Look at what you're doing now. When you jack up the axle at the differential the springs exert pressure on the perches and the differential rotates forward, pulling the bushings away from the UCA. If you jack up the perches, the differential rotates backwards and pushes the bushings into the UCA. You can remove both UCAs and it doesn't make a difference, and you don't need to create a dangerous situation by using ropes, tow straps and 3 parked Jeeps to do it.

 

I missed the part about the bottom of the case the first time you saw it.

thanks for your help . I have a better idea of what to try now.

 

You may need to use a jack under case near the pinion to rotate the axle forward. Once you get the bolt out, then you're going to have fun getting the bushing out. :}