leaf spring removale help

[KacyZ28]

im tring to take my leafs outta my 69 camaro and i cant get one bolt out.its the one that the nut is actually in the rocker panel anyone have a way of getting in there to hold the nut without a torch

[OHCbird]

Did you try to drop the spring perch plate?

[Stu Seitz]

Yeah the spring perch is what you need to take out. It's three bolts that just screw into the frame. Came out pretty easy for me when I replaced my leafs

[TonyHuntimer]

Hey Kacy,

Did you get a copy of my book? I wrote a short section about these stupid nuts.

I don't have my book within my reach and I'm eating dinner. It should be in the rear suspension section with a picture of a front perch and a pry bar.



Good luck,
Tony Huntimer
RaceHome.com

[MrQuick]

yeah them perch bolts SUCK!!! I bet its the last one you lossened too hu??? I've had luck jaming a large screw driver (not mine of coarse) to wedge the nut still.Then impact the crap out of it. Don't worry getting them back in will be a pain in the ASS too!

[BRIAN]

Cut bolt head off with a cut off wheel, then just push through. Remove when you take off plate. By the way Home Depot sells 4" Norton metal cut off wheels for angle grinders that work better than just about anything.

[TonyHuntimer]

I have had most success with the prybar method. I usually use Vince's large screw driver to pry the spring perch down while using the impact gun on the bolt.

Do yourself a favor and get some new spring perch nuts. Using the old ones again is bad news. They are only a few dollars. PLEASE DON'T do the method of drilling a hole through the floorboard and run an extra long bolt from the inside of the car through the floorboard down under the car. I've seen this, and it's not pretty. The car was trashed with "special" engineering. The guy should have just purchased 5 foot bolts and run the leaf spring bolts all the way through the roof of the car.



Good luck,
Tony Huntimer
RaceHome.com

[KacyZ28]

ochbird the spring perches are what im trying to take loose...
tony i havent sent the check yet
mrquick where did you find a place to put a screw driver in the rocker panel to hold that nut..and i dont have an impact where the car is the compressor wont handle that kinda abuse

if i do have to drill a hole it wont be the first tha was done to this poor car and i wont use bolts to long

[Stu Seitz]

Wow looks like I was really lucky, my screws came striat out and went in with no problem at all.

[JL8Jeff]

It sounds like you're stuck on the bolt that is tucked up inside the perch where you can't get a saw or cutoff wheel on it. I had to drill the head out on that bolt. What a PITA! Then it took me 2 more hours to get the old j-clips out of the rocker/frame area. When I went to do the other side, I broke the bolts loose, then I tried to turn them as fast as possible with the socket so they wouldn't have a chance to lock up and break the clip. It worked on 2 out of the 3. Yup, 30+ year old suspension parts suk to deal with.