Control Arm Replacement - Inner BJ Just Spins

[cornercarver]

Gang,

Attempting to replace my front control arms this weekend, but finding the inner BJ is just spinning when I turn the nut.

Any tips on keeping the BJ from spinning?

[ELCID86]

Gang,

Attempting to replace my front control arms this weekend, but finding the inner BJ is just spinning when I turn the nut.

Any tips on keeping the BJ from spinning?

“BJ is just spinning when I turn the nut.”! On any other forum...!?

Can you grab it with vice grips to keep it from spinning? What about an air wrench—might overcome the BJ spin. (Sorry I don’t recall how much room there is to access it).

[cornercarver]

“BJ is just spinning when I turn the nut.”! On any other forum...!?

LOL - yeah, realized that after I posted it.

Can you grab it with vice grips to keep it from spinning? What about an air wrench—might overcome the BJ spin. (Sorry I don’t recall how much room there is to access it).

No way to grab it with vice grips. A buddy of mine suggested putting a jack under the BJ to put pressure on it and keep it from turning. Going to try that...

[holyc0w]

[slater]

The shaft of the BJ (keeping it PC here ) is keyed on the top for I think a 5 or 6mm hex. That will allow you to hold it and break the nut free.


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[cornercarver]

It is, but that means getting two hands into a space where I can barely get one as it is.

I’m going to try the jack trick first. If that doesn’t work I’ll try the hex (which, by the way, I’m not sure will fit. The top of the nut and BJ shaft are heavily rusted.) It took me a while just to get a socket on the nut. I accessed the nut from the engine bay because doing it from underneath looked a lot harder. I was able to sand the sides of the nut to remove the rust but I don’t see a way to remove the rust in the hex keyway. I also don’t have a 21mm box end wrench, so this is going to have to wait until next weekend. 🙁

[Sockethead]

Use the jack. I've used that method for decades

[slater]

It is, but that means getting two hands into a space where I can barely get one as it is.

I’m going to try the jack trick first. If that doesn’t work I’ll try the hex (which, by the way, I’m not sure will fit. The top of the nut and BJ shaft are heavily rusted.) It took me a while just to get a socket on the nut. I accessed the nut from the engine bay because doing it from underneath looked a lot harder. I was able to sand the sides of the nut to remove the rust but I don’t see a way to remove the rust in the hex keyway. I also don’t have a 21mm box end wrench, so this is going to have to wait until next weekend. ��

bummer. it is definitely a tight space! i ended up getting a hex key in the top, and braced it; and used a long 22mm box end wrench, because i also didn't have a 21mm. the length gave me the leverage i needed, but it also meant i could only get about 1/16 of a turn at a time - it took about 10min to just get that one nut off. this was on a friends' car.

when i had the engine out of the Touring and swapped the ZHP front subframe/rack/etc in, i just did it without the engine in - way easier.

[cornercarver]

Use the jack. I've used that method for decades

I'm going to try that first...and if all else fails I'm just going to use a nut splitter. I don't have time to F around with rusted nuts.

bummer. it is definitely a tight space! i ended up getting a hex key in the top, and braced it; and used a long 22mm box end wrench, because i also didn't have a 21mm. the length gave me the leverage i needed, but it also meant i could only get about 1/16 of a turn at a time - it took about 10min to just get that one nut off. this was on a friends' car.

I'm picking up a 21mm wrench this week... I watched a couple of YouTube vids and they said the same thing; takes forever to get the nut off because you can barely turn it. I figure I'll just use the box end wrench to break the nut free, then use a socket driver w/extensions from above to take it the rest of the way. This approach should work pretty well on the driver's side, but the passenger's side is so tight to the strut tower it may not be feasible...

[slater]

I figure I'll just use the box end wrench to break the nut free, then use a socket driver w/extensions from above to take it the rest of the way. This approach should work pretty well on the driver's side, but the passenger's side is so tight to the strut tower it may not be feasible...

the only problem with that method is that it's a nylock nut, and as such it will still spin the BJ shaft until it's almost all the way off. so you really need to hold the shaft in place 95% of the way.