A little fun in the driveway...removing a stubborn McPherson strut.

My Son bought a retired Highway Patrol car, with a blown engine...cheaply, and started rebuilding her.

He has the motor and supercharger purring now, so he moved to the front end. A tiny amount of play is fine in most cars, but dangerous in a fire breathing Monster like this!

It is Fast, and I'm trying to get him to sell it.

But I have a standing deal with both Son and Daughter. If they know how, They do the work; if they get stuck, or don't know how, Dad will step in to help. Same deal I had with my Dad....

He got the strut out okay on one side:

But the driver side strut decided he wasn't tough enough to remove it! So I was called in....

I destroyed a 1/2 inch drive, by shearing off the socket connecting square ( I don't play nice! ), while trying to break the bottom bolt loose.

An impact wrench was also defeated, so I ground off a leg on the strut. The bolt still refused to move out of the bushing, even with a large the hammer! So I cut the head off, and moved it to a 20 ton press; but it still refused to move.

The local repair shop recommended that we buy the entire lower assembly, adding several hundred dollars, because they must be replaced in a pair.

To avoid this, the assembly went into my shop, for some lathe time! I couldn't use my torch to heat and powder the rust, because her rubber bushing would burn. After removing the bolt head and chucking it up on the engine lathe, I began boring out this 5/8 inch rusted bolt.

It looked kind of like this;

Since the bushing is rubber, it isn't possible to hold the exact center, on the bolt; but if you get close, it counts...and looks like this.

With a little pushing and pulling, the bolt came free, and allowed me to clean out the remaining rust with a 20 gauge shotgun brush. The bushing was undamaged, and the new bolt had to be tapped in with a hammer; just like the other side! So if you run into this issue (I hope you don't ), just find a local machine shop; and save a little cash, and a lot of work changing both sides.

I am sure glad this job is done; including a most unusual use of a shotgun cleaning brush, LOL!

This predator will be back in it's 'jungle' soon....