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Originally Posted by bazar01  ptbowman, I know this is an old post, but can you share how you got the original aluminum sleeve off the steel stud on the rear subframe? Did you have to spray a lot of PB Blaster to get it unstuck? Did you heat it up with a propane torch? Let me know if you don't mind. |
It was a PAIN!!!! I have worked on cars for decades- biggest pig of a job I have ever seen. I tried do many different things that just didn't work. Lots of penetrating oil (even stuff better than PB Blaster) did not work. There is just no good way to get the fluid in thst aluminum/steel interface. Finally I went crazy with a drill. First I drilled multiple holes around the circumference of the rubber bushing in order to separate that from the inner aluminum sleeve. I then carefully cut away the rubber bits from the aluminum sleeve. I was hoping to grab the aluminum sleeve with a giant visegrip hoping that torque would break the corrosion. Nope! So finally I bought a series of drill bits and very carefully enlarged the center hole in the aluminum sleeve until it was thin enough that it literally fell out of the body. My sons and I were whooping and hollering and high-fiving because we had been fighting this for days- my wife came running to the garage thinking someone was hurt! We did not use a torch because I was really concerned about the gas tank being so close to everything and the last thing I wanted was a gasoline explosion especially in a garage integral to the house. We could have probably rigged some heat shields but I just didn't want a hot flame within inches of a gas tank And fuel lines in adfition, a flame will definitely set the rubber bushing on fire creating a hortible smoky mess. In hindsight I could gave done this in an hour by just drilling out the aluminum sleeve and not messing around with everything else I tried. 20/20 hindsight. BUT be incredibly careful NOT to damage the bushing locating point in the body (the steel sleeve that locates the aluminum sleeve). If you mess up the steel sleeve you'retotally screwed! It wasn't that hard though- the aluminum is soft and the drlll bits cut easily through it. Run a slow drill speed and go slowly, frequently stopping to check your work. No problem on first few bits but that last where you have thinned the aluminum sleeve enough that it loses all strength- BE CAREFUL