living in new england sucks

so i have 5100s and .85 and decided to upgrade to 884's with my 5100 set at 0. so i decided today was the day. i jacked it up, removed skid and sway bar (which was a bitch because of the rusted bolts) and was going to go with the no spring compressor method, loosened everything i needed to (all rusted bolts but i got then with breaker bar and a pipe) and found the lower shock mount bolt and nut to be seized from rust and i couldnt move it at all. so i put it back together and went a bought an impact gun and sockets. BTW all the nuts and bolts have been sprayed with WD40 and PB blaster and ATF, daily for about a week. no luck with impact gun. so i decided to be innovated and let the LCA droop down, then jack up at the hub to raise the UCA enough for me to pivot the shock and spring out enough to remove the spring and it worked!!! so i was able to remove the stock coils and slide on the 884's, oh but wait the 5100s are still set at .85, so i pull the 884 spring off and start to work on the spring perch (which has also been soaked for days in PB blaster) and the thing is seized, wont move, from you guessed it, rust. i tried a BFH but didnt want to break the pearch. i tried everything air tools, 2 foot breaker bar with a 2 foot pipe on it, started with heat but didnt want to melt bushings and no progress. so i ended up putting the stock coils back on, bolting everything back up and saying screw it. i dont want to cut out old coilovers and buy new shocks right now as mine only have about 20k on them. and dont want to pay a shop to do it. so im right back to where i was after 4 hours of work and money blown on buying tools (im sure ill use them again).
so now i guess ill head to the alignment shop tomorrow, and get it aligned (hope the alignment cams are seized as well) get my new tires on and an alignment and deal with my shitty 5100 lift with shitty ride from preloaded sport coils. i may get some 3/8" top place spacer and pray i can get those installed first but i doubt i can. i really wanted the better ride that the 884 would have given, not just lift so honestly im probably not going to bother.
so if anyone is looking for some used 884's that i bought from DCSBFTWMW (aka peerunner) let me know because i have no use for them anymore.

 

im not looking for ideas on how to remedy this. just venting. im not a mechanic but i know what im doing, and i give up.

 

What an ordeal....dammit man.

 

i was so happy when i figured a way to swap the coils without having to remove the rusted lower shock mount bolt. i was almot there but that damn spring perch was siezed up

I've heard many guys say the lower shock mount gets seized. Sucks, but for guys who are changing coils but not the shock there is a way to change coil with lower shock bolt in.

 

I went today to get tires mounted and an alignment. And of courseThe drivers side alignment arm nuts were seized. So they couldn't get the toe in spec. I'll post pics of alignment sheet when I get home. Tires balanced up nicely. Hankook dynapro atm's 255 75 17 and they look great. So I'll be soaking that alignment arm for a few days and see if I can break it loose. The alignment shop tried heat with no success. And if I get loose they will finish alignment for free. Any suggestions other than pb blaster and wd40?

 

I read on here somewhere that a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF fluid works wonders on frozen bolts. Might be worth a try if you are up for it.

 

Ok perfect I'll try that too

 

Here my spec sheet. Any suggestions to have them change anything other than the toe thatis being caused by mot being able to adjust siezed adjusting arm?
Also would the toe being off cause my steering wheel to be off center like this when I'm driving straight ? How can they fix that?
Thanks

 

255/75/17 they don't look skinny at all to me. I have 5100s at .85 and Firestone air bags with 10 psi in them.

Tires have 36psi all around right now. Tire shop had 42 in them but I took them down to 36 for now. I have to say they seem to ride smoother than my old tires at 32

 

Sawzall and new bushings/bolts. Hopefully you don't have to go that route.

AE

 

I know the feeling. When I did the 5100s and AAL from my stock 170k struts / shocks and coil almost everything was either seized, or was so badly rusted it didn't even resemble a bolt or nut. Top hat bolts needed to be torched, all the U bolts had to be torched, Broke 2 lower ball joint bolts off, so had to torch those out. Tie rod was seized to the lower ball joint, so had to replace both of those. Diff bolts required a 3/4 impact and heat to come off for the drop pucks. Lower shock bolts actually came out relatively easily, probably because of the new lower control arms from when the frame was replaced. It was a nightmare. Working on new england vehicles is about as fun as ramming your head on a brick wall.

 

I just broke a bolt taking my skid plate off last weekend. It was rusted so bad i ony got it out a couple turns and then it siezed utp. I have a 2013
Also my 2004 (back in 2008) i had to cut the shock off the truck bolt and all.

 

Heat soak it deep and get candle wax melted on there. As the parts cool the wax wicks to the heat which is deeper in the part. Has worked wonders on exhaust manifold studs and header flange bolts many times for me.

 

Good tip. Never heard of that before