GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Well I am trying to get to the rearend seals to change them and on both sides the 2 lower bolts in the lower a-arm are completely seized. Went to the Toyota dealer and ordered new bolts for it and when I told the parts guy what I needed he knew the old ones were seized up. Ive been soaking them in blaster for 3 days now and I think the only way to remove the spindle from the a-arm will be cut the bolts off with a sawzall. Has anyone had this problem and if so how in the world did you get the bolts to break lose and out? Thanks

Air tools are your friend! My 3/4" drive impact wrench works quite well You can also try a nut breaker. But since you've got new bolts, cutting them off shouldn't be that big of a deal.

oh I got the nut off of each bolt with a breaker bar. Top spindle bolt turns freely and backs right out with a gentle tap from a hammer. Bottom 2 bolts will not even turn or move with a large hammer. My only guess is the bolt is rusted to the metal sleeve in the bushing. What a PITA for 4 bolts.

well day 3 of working on this and still cant get the lower bolts to budge at all. Been soaking them in every penetrating lube we can find and beating on them with a hammer and using an impact gun on the bolt heads and nothing. Was able to pop the passenger side rear axle out of the differential but wasnt able to get it completely out due to the spindle still connected to the lower a-arm. This is crazy almost ready to give up....

well i got the bolts out!!!!!!! After days of soaking in many different penetrating oils and hitting them with a sledge hammer with no progress, today we put the air chisel to them. We cut the bolts threaded side flush with the bushing and pushed them out with the air chisel for alittle over an hour per bolt.

Sounds like that was quite tedious!!! You may want to coat the new bolts with neverseize (not the threads though ) for if you ever have to do this again!Now.... how did the seal change go?

oh yes i will be, still waiting on one new cam bolt from the toyota dealer. Havent even got to the seals yet....had the pass side axle shaft out but couldnt fully remove it because of the knuckle still being bolted. I have been working on these bolts since sunday evening. Have an app. tuesday to get it lined back up and state inspection so I have to have it done monday night.Ill post some pics of whats left of the bolts tomorrow.

here is whats left of the rear knuckle bolts....

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and a close up

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Damn....living up North is hard on cars.

oh yeah its not fun...car is an '06 with 68K, the rear lower control arms are the only parts under the car thats showing rust...the car was undercoated when new.What sucks is we changed all the suspension bolts and bushings on a '72 cutlass that we are restoring and has been a PA car its entire life and they were easier to do then these were.Im just so happy they came out, got the new ones today and hope to have the seals pulled and changed tonight and get it back together this weekend.

Well just got the axle shafts out and after looking at the Matrix repair manual the seals currently in my rearend are in BACKWARDS! Had them replaced once at the GM dealer and looks like they installed both sides wrong.

well got both seals changed into the diff assembly and I have them installed the correct way, unlike when the GM dealer did it. Cleaned the ends of the axle shafts all up and inspected them for wear or damage and they look fine. Went to start reassembly and ran into another snag....The rear knuckle mount on the rear lower control arm is cracked...no surprise its the bushing location we spent 4 hours driving the bolt out with the air chisel. The weld didnt break its the metal plate that has cracked. This rear axle seal change is a nightmare for me.

Egads!!!! I am planning on changing these out in my wifes '03 AWD. I regret hearing of the problems you have/are facing....and am crossing my fingers that I do not run into similar issues. Our car came out of the North, and has seen the last two years in WV. Similar conditions for sure. Glad to hear you didn't find anything wrong with the axles though

I hate to scare you 455sd but really the seal change isnt that bad. Im just running into issue after issue thats a result from my seized bolts. I would say start soaking your bolts with penetrating lube now if you plan on doing it. I would also order new lower control arm bolts and hardware so you can replace the used ones. Ill put up the part numbers for thoes tonight.

Thanks for the information/part #'s. May get into it this weekend, weather permitting. I will start the pre-soak

No problem if you need any info just ask, its fresh in my mind. I got a new used LCA today just painted it and hope to have it all done tonight. I found for soaking the best stuff is ZEP 45-NC Penetrating Lubricant. Also tried CRC Freeze off, PB Blaster and SeaFoam Creep.

455SD, check out my part numbers post, i added some tips i learned while doing this service. I also have it in a word document from the service manual but its too large to post here.

04shadowvibe wrote:455SD, check out my part numbers post, i added some tips i learned while doing this service. I also have it in a word document from the service manual but its too large to post here.

Would it be possible for you to send that to me? vaggeto AT m s n . c o m