Lower control arm bolt stuck

I'll have to go out and look at my car now I have two of these here so you can't get the blow torch around on the other side of the frame member there I don't think there's a nut I think there's a threaded boss on the frame member that this bolt is going into so essentially now if you could spray some whatever you're poison penetrating mess in there and a lot of it to get it to run down that bolt and lean up against the threads that it's a millimeter or two out of let that soak like that now try to use your electric or pneumatic wrench to run the bolt in taking some of the juice you squirted with you 1 mm into the hole let it sit a minute and I'll try to back it out with the pneumatic wrench again spray some more run the thing in keep jogging it back and forth You may have success doing that You do it rapidly run it in push the button rap rap rap bring it back out spray some more button ready run it in repeat a little heat on the bolt if it starts to come out a little more you can add heat to the shaft it should run down to the threaded end heat travels pretty quick It helps No I don't think you'll make a fire even with the penetrating oil in there It will smoke.

 

Yeah they do it pretty quickly they're jogging that bolt back and forth If they can get heat on it at some point obviously you're changing the lower control arm so no matter of heating that up or overheating it or burning up the bushing or whatever the heck That's all going to be new I'm assuming. So at this point you just trying to jog the bolt out no matter what you do to the control arm metal or surrounding metal as that won't be there soon hopefully

 

Were the control arms damaged or the bushings so bad in the control arm you could wobble it side to side I usually just blast the ball joint off from the outer portion of the lower control arm and then take off the hub with the ball joint and the end link undone and then change the ball joint and the wheel bearing off the car right there next to it I haven't really seen control arms on my generations 3 bad yet like bushings unless they're bent in an accident which I haven't had yet so no need to take them off here anyway.

 

So you're replacing rackins on your steering rack too outer tie rod inner rack end. For dang near the cost of the four rack pieces you can get a rebuilt rack generally speaking for most cars I haven't priced it for a Prius but the rack isn't very special in the Prius very similar to all their other models It doesn't even have the large adjusting nut anymore for the rack to housing adjustment like they had previously but no matter. But of course if it's not leaking and everything is working well I guess doing the labor to put new boots and enter and outer ends maybe worth it to you.

 

I wound up investing in a low mileage (~67K) steering rack, from a local salvage yard, that came with both inner and outer tie rod assemblies. Was like $10 more than the new outer tie rod I recall, ~$65.

The gen 2 list the inner tie rod as a serviceable part, though for some reason the gen 3 does not. I had to change the inner tie rod on my 2013, so wound up just using the inner and outer tie rod from the drivers side.

If I remember correctly, the inner tie rods are interchangeable on the gen 3's, though the outers are not.

Wondering also, did you try the double ball peen hammer shock blows on the bolts and around the bolts and captive nut area? My guess is that's what helped free my front bolt out from the captive nut, along with the almost week daily penetrate plus some brake cleaner applied on two days as well as the impact back and forth action.

Oddly, my rear not captive nut was seized along with the bolt, where both the head and bolt wound up braking off. Where the but side broke however was where I was able to cut using the oscillating tool.

 

Off-topic, but with your location I can believe it. Ever watch South Main Auto? In upstate New York, and pretty much every car he works on is a rust disaster.

i idly wonder how much the road salt is costing, dollars, labor, down-time. There's gotta be more can be done, tighter regulation on salt quantities used, research into alternatives, taxk breaks for snow tires, whatever.

 

My guess, like the Phoebus cartel, there is collusion with the salt mines and related industries along with the big three to create such a situation. Probably the government is on board via lobbyists and/or actual elected officials interests that stretches into the road maintenance as well.

My experience, up closer towards oh Canada there, when I was traveling back and forth earning my bachelors of science at Michigan Tech located in Michigan's scenic Upper Peninsula where in the Keweenaw Peninsula at least where there were plenty of mine stampings machines that left plenty of stamp sand for future generations, sand was the preferred material to use. Sand, that's it. Works great especially once freezes into the road.

Reminds me of using gravel roads as a cost effective solution to road ways that don't require heavy loads routinely, albeit you'll need to plan drainage well and run graders occasionally to level the surface.