[Jacoburn1304]

Hey y'all, I am so close...that's what she said.

Can someone in detail explain to me how to get the red bolts in the picture included loose? The ones in blue, piece of cake, came right off. But I can not get the red ones to budge.

Do I understand right, that you leave the nut and simply use the T40 to loosen the whole bolt, because that makes me VERY nervous about stripping it. I also looked at the nuts, and they appear to have little clips, so am I supposed to try and turn them?

VERY novice mechanic, but after a week in my garage, this is all I have left (assuming I can get a stripped caliper bolt out from the idiot who owned my car before me). Any help would be great! I'm addicted to fixin up my 1.

[PerfectAce]

Yes, just turn the nuts off the studs. The T40 will hold the stud in place and keep it from spinning. The nuts holding the arms to the spindle have been torqued down far more than the nuts holding the arms to the subframe (the ones that you've already removed), so it's not just your imagination that they're harder to remove.

Maybe a few pages from Bentley might help you out.

[IllSic_Design]

You either use an impact gun/socket to remove the nuts, or hold the bolt/stud with the correct size allen socket and use a wrench to remove them(the nuts).

[BSM n54iS]

muscle

[upshift_downshift]

I just did my control arms about a week ago. There are two things you should go and buy for this job. Number one is an electric impact gun. This should be the first thing you try on those nuts. The second is a hacksaw. If the studs are corroded, you will have to loosen the nut far enough to get the saw in there and cut it off. It sucks, but that's just how it goes sometimes.

The "official" way to loosen them is to hold the stud with a T-40 bit while using a 21 mm wrench on the nut. It's torqued to about 120 ft-lbs, so it's going to be tight.

I HIGHLY recommend getting a friend to help you out. One guy's job is to make sure the torx doesn't strip, and the other loosens the nut.

But, try the impact gun first. They're about $150 and will save you a lot of headache, and not just on this job. It might not seem like it wants to break free with the impact, but just keep on the trigger. It'll go.

[mweisdorfer]

Originally Posted by Jacoburn1304

Hey y'all, I am so close...that's what she said.

Can someone in detail explain to me how to get the red bolts in the picture included loose? The ones in blue, piece of cake, came right off. But I can not get the red ones to budge.

Do I understand right, that you leave the nut and simply use the T40 to loosen the whole bolt, because that makes me VERY nervous about stripping it. I also looked at the nuts, and they appear to have little clips, so am I supposed to try and turn them?

VERY novice mechanic, but after a week in my garage, this is all I have left (assuming I can get a stripped caliper bolt out from the idiot who owned my car before me). Any help would be great! I'm addicted to fixin up my 1.

Get some Kroil Oil, a yellow gas torch & a Dewalt 650# air powered, 1/2 drive torque gun. Your also going to need a dremmel with a few cut off wheels (plan c).

You can get Kroil Oil at Amazon and the torch, Dewalt air gun & dremmel at Lowe's.

Plan A - soak the bolts over night in Kroil Oil and see if that loosens them up enough to be able to turn them. Be careful. Many on this forum have broken the T-40 sockets trying to get the control arms off the hub. You might want to stock up on them

Plan B - try and use the Dewalt Air gun. If not, then use the torch and heat up the nuts for about 30 sec to a min and keep trying.

Plan C - when all else fails, cut the damn things off with the dremmel. Lol....

As far as getting the caliper bolt out that's stuck in there, you are going to need an Irwin spline extractor set and good set of cobalt drill bits.

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[Jacoburn1304]

Thanks for everyone's input. What better way to celebrate America's Independence day than to work on your German ride.

Anyway, turns out muscle was the key, and tons of PB Blaster. My foot made for some great leverage. I will probably write on the original thread my opinions on how I made the job easier, but what's important, is job done and the control arms are looking good!

Now to bang out a dent on my fender.

[Jaronbwall]

Originally Posted by Jacoburn1304

Thanks for everyone's input. What better way to celebrate America's Independence day than to work on your German ride.

Anyway, turns out muscle was the key, and tons of PB Blaster. My foot made for some great leverage. I will probably write on the original thread my opinions on how I made the job easier, but what's important, is job done and the control arms are looking good!

Now to bang out a dent on my fender.

Nice job man! I'm about to do the same thing and this post really helped. I've got the electric impact gun ready

[BSM n54iS]

just gonna point out... interesting how the one guy with the EXACT right answer doesn't get any love smh hahah

not the first time

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by BdSM n54iS

just gonna point out... interesting how the one guy with the EXACT right answer doesn't get any love smh hahah

not the first time

Yeah, and sadly it happens more and more the farther downstream these cars go. You simply don’t know if you don’t know and the greater number of inexperienced owners grasp for straws...