Camber kit spindle stuck in arm
 

I've done a lot of work on my car all by myself, and this is the first time I am really stuck not knowing what to do.... help please, I've tried heatgun, hammer, lubricant sprays... wtf, this doesn't even look possible for this spindle to get this stuck onto the arm, like it literally merged with the metal of the arm molding onto it or something...
towards the end of the video is where it shows you the problem exactly...

pictures are in high resolution so you can see it up close, only took pics of the bottom where it looks like it's one piece, the video shows the top portion as well


http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z75/Adon604/008.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z75/Adon604/006.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z75/Adon604/004.jpg

Take the arm off, turn it upside down, support the bottom with a big socket (so the piece stuck in there can fall out), stick a short bolt or sacrificial socket on the top and bang it out. Make sure the bottom is always supported (always sitting flush with the big socket) so you don't risk bending/cracking the arm. It wouldn't hurt to have someone hold the arm while you're banging away.

Or take the arm off and take it to a shop with a press and get them to press it out.

Don't heat up suspension/steering components.

GL



"Poked myself there" "I'm just talking out my ass" LOL

^ what he said. Pretty much need
1. a socket thats bigger then the piece your pounding out.
2. a nice heavy duty bolt or punch to sit on top of the piece you want out that will not damage the hole in the arm so it should be just a bit smaller.
3. a big fucking hammer
4. someone to hold the arm while you curse and scream at it.


Pretty much the same process to do U-Joints lol

You can get it out with an arbour press.. shouldn't be that expensive from places like Harbor or Princess

$40 at HF for the 1/2 or $48 for the 1ton one http://www.harborfreight.com/1-ton-a...ress-3552.html

thanks for helpful advice guys, i'm gonna give it a shot today got all day to work on it, will report back later..

FUCKING ICHIBA MAN, thought i was buying quality shit at $400+, fckin joke that company, I have half a mind to ship them their old camber arms back with a nice little note for them as well

good heads up on not heat gunning suspension components too, totally overlooked that in my eagerness to get the spindle outta there

Different type of metals will have electrolytic reaction causing metal to bond.. it happens to all brands, except better brands will put a gasket between different types of metal to prevent the problem.

Just get the arbour press.. takes 10 minutes max to get it out.

A heat gun will not get that hot enough to have any affect.
I have a 20 ton press and can donate the needed five minutes to knock that out for ya

thanks a lot guys, I was gonna take the whole arm apart today, but as I went to bed last night I had the idea to just cut into it to allow it to flex, that way it wouldn't be stuck. My mind was working overtime at trying to think of various possibilities since I REALLY did not wanna take the whole arm off, lol that would have been so much work with just basic tools I have in my garage, no power tools at all.

But it worked, popped out on the second hit very easily, although it wasn't all that easy to cut it, you could see I went rage mode and ended up cutting into the arm slightly but it's not a big deal, not like it's gonna crack apart or nothin.


Anyway thanks for all the help, check out the pics here... peep the not so subliminal in the first pic


http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...404_133717.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...404_115238.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...404_120116.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...404_120132.jpg
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...404_120232.jpg

Wow, you really went for it on that one cut eh? Just remember that balljoint is tapered, it's a wedge. So if you tighten the shit out of it, there is the possibility of cracking the arm now that it has a weak spot.

Deburr the one end with a round file and clean everything with a wire brush.

^ Yup. maybe put some never seize or some sill glide next time so they dont bond like that, or at least maybe not that badly.

Glad to see you got it out, Never thought of that little trick, Ill have to keep it mind.

Flip yea lol, first top cut I took my time with it, took like 20 minutes, kept cutting stopping to look I didn't go too far, but then went to town on that last cut I just wanted to finish it was getting frustrated, it ain't easy cutting metal with a handsaw especially with so little space.

Prowl yea I figured it was stuck had no space to flex so cutting into it would give it space to move around a bit, and it just popped out on the second tap right away.
good advice I will definitely be using anti seize from now on where ever I can, here and other important parts like on my wheel studs as well, nothing worse than getting a wheel stuck and stripping a lug trying to get it off...

My new Kinetix kit was $250 brand new shipped with a LIFETIME warranty... and the Ichiba is priced between $350 and $450 with a 1 year warranty, and fck the shit is beyond cheap, look at some of the stuff that's happened to other users, literally snapped in half for quite a few people so my case could have been a lot worse, good thing I took them off... these are their rear kits snapping in half here causing crashes


http://g35driver.com/forums/attachme...e-dscf2086.jpg
http://g35driver.com/forums/attachme...7-12.39.47.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7176/6...e6b47fc3_b.jpg

using anti seize on things like wheel studs isn't always a great idea. Keeping them clean is good, and is you put clean nuts on clean studs you won't have a problem.

The reason I say that is there are arguements to using it and not using it. Canadian and American automotive engineers don't reccomend it, most manafacturers don't reccomend it, and from what i've read, the trend started so many years ago the tech was different and they needed it.

for modern cars, keepin the wheel studs clean and not using stretched nuts (lolol) is more important.

I don't have time to post all the links, but quickly google it and you'll see both sides of the arguement.

I personally don't do it, and clean it off of customers cars if I see it.

there is science behind not doing it, hope you can find it!

I dont use it on wheel studs, Brake caliper/ hub bolts etc. stuff like this tho there should be no problem. Get some pipe cleaners and some wire brushes and pb blaster or maybe some CLR to clean out bolt holes and bolt threads. Kinda handy to own a tap and die set to :D

Phil@Rise offered you to use his press and you still go ahead to hack the arm?

So cost = arm + camber kit + who knows how many hours you've spent? You have to replace the arm now with all your pictures etc.. if not just wait till ICBC see this when you have an accident!

Anti-seize compound won't do squat with parts like this where it is exposed to the elements.

Yea I actually noticed when an alignment shop used some anti seize that it messed up my wheel studs even more, now there's a crispy white flaky compound all dried up left behind that's just stuck on between the threads making it a bit harder to put them on and off.

I hadn't used any anti seize myself since the wheel studs were always super clean I think they're anodized, so no rust or nothing.. but will definitely get some cleaner brush that residue off


godwin, yea no way I could have taken the arm off without power tools so I did the only thing I could, idea was great, but my execution wasnt, should have paid attention to the second cut like i did on the first one..
but i'm gonna keep an eye out for cracks, soon as i see anything, just gonna grab a new OEM arm for $200 and slap it on...





hey Phil this whole arm replacement thing would give me an excuse to change all the bushings up front, as there was a minor recall for 350z's and g35's for premature bushing failure in the a arms where they go at roughly 70 to 100k, and upfront I been hearing quite a bit of creaking and squeaking that was never there before last year so I been looking at a complete set of whiteline polyurethane bushings for both front and rear of the car... just need to buy some power tools so I can actually get the parts off and bring them to a shop like yours with a press so you can swap them out....
was wondering how long it would take you to do all that ?