Ute rear spring removal

[SEB]

Can anybody advise how much force is required to remove the rear spring front mounting stud. They are locked solid in my ute, service manual mutters about simply removing them but they will not come out even when hammered with a drift. The insulator retainers are also U/S, is it possible to get new ones ?

Best regards,

Steve.  

[gree]

these things can be a complete bastard. in the past, i have had to make up a jig thingy, and use a g-clamp to push them out. hammers didn't work for either!

[SEB]

How big a G Clamp did you have to use ? I hoping to avoid the jaws of life here. What was the problem rust or are the pins just a tight fit?

Best regards,

Steve.

[gree]

i only used a medium sized clamp. i think the problem was just that they had slightly rusted in place. when even pressure was applied steadily, they came out ok.

i think pushing it out like this beats slamming with a hammer - less likely to damage the studs...

[mcl1959]

SEB - I have a big heavy bar (about 15kg and 3 feet long), I place this against the bolt and get a friend to hit it with the sledge. One hit and it's out.
Believe it or not, but this does not even damage the thread.
Usually these bolts are too rusted to be used again anyway and are available new from R/S

Ken