Torque Arm Bolts

[Harry]

1966 230SL.  Wow.  Talk about hard to remove.  I have managed to remove both bolts at the axle for the driver's side torque arm, and the inside bolt from the passenger's side.  The inner bolts were actually accessible with an impact wrench (sweet).  The outer on the driver's side came free with some grunting and select vocabulary.

Not so for the passenger side.  I cannot get it to budge.  Have soaked repeatedly with PB Blaster, used a cheater and even used a floor jack to break it free!  Just jacked up the axle instead!  (Dammit.)  I'm going to look online for some suggested remedies but I wonder whether someone here has the cure-all?  Just one more bolt!!

Thanks,
Harry

[wwheeler]

Its always one bolt! The worst part about the bolts is the thin head. Not much to bite onto. I sacrificed a socket and machined off the front beveled edge of the socket in order to give maximum contact to the flats of the hex. That helps prevent rounding the hexes on the head. You can also use fine sand to give added grip between the socket and the bolt head.

I assume you will replace the rubber bushings? If so, you can also use heat from a heat gun or such. Sometimes it will even help to tighten the bolt first to break the grip and then loosen.

Good luck!

[pagodarune]

I also had some difficulty removing these bolts. In this thread there is a picture of how I did it, http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=24258.msg173773#msg173773

[waqas]

Those bolts are a bear! I dealt with the same thing several years ago and ended up rounding them.
Here was my last-gasp solution:


Luckily, I had a spare bolt for re-installation.

[This is from my thread on replacing my rear axle: http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=1642.msg20314#msg20314]