Siezed rear wheel alignment adjustment bolts

[strikee]

Dear all.

I took my p-car for new shoes today and wheel alignment.

The mechanic was unable to adjust the rear aligment as he said the bolts were siezed. He managed to release the lock nut, but couldnt do the adjustment bolts. He said he would have to pull the rear swing arms off etc and clean it all up.

He sprayed it with penetrating oil and said bring it back in a week.

I dont have any pictures but is this something I can do myself?

Not really investigated it properly at this stage and apologies for the lack of detail.

I guess im looking for advice. Hoping to avoid a big bill if its just a few hours wrenching and some hard work.

Cheers
Ed

[Oh Haha]

Unless you are familiar with the algnment process, it's best to let the wrench do it. Is the shop familiar with 911s or are they just a generic auto repair facility?

[strikee]

Hey wayne.

Should of made myself clear, not trying to do the alignment, just wanted to unsieze these adjustment nuts.

It is a reputable shop, they do four corner alignment and specialise in performance vehicles. He was very familiar with set up and talked with confidence.

I guess I need to understand why the entire rear of the car needs to be pulled apart.

Cheers
Ed

[Oh Haha]

Without seeing firsthand, I can't say for certain but you shouldn't have to take the banana arms off to unseize the nuts.

I would suspect that he may want to get them up on the bench so they are easier to work on.

He saw them so he may KNOW that they are going to be a pain in the arse and is planning ahead. Nothing wrong with that.

[Jim Sims]

Time to update to 21st century technology:

Induction Innovations (IDIMD700) Mini-Ductor II Magnetic Induction Heater Kit - Amazon.com

[strikee]

Whats that for Jim?

[Jim Sims]

Heats the fastener inductively (rapidly changing radio frequency magnetic field) to break free the corrosion seizing the fastener. Can be used on fasteners on the car. Inductively heats conductive material within the coil; reduced collateral damage and fire hazard as there are no combustion flames such as from a torch. Fastener will get red hot and typically should be discarded. About the cost of three high quality torque wrenches.

[HFR_Racer]

I surely wouldn't let any wrench tell me that they want to pull the arms to do that. Worst case... Cut the heads off of the bolts and drive them out with a punch. Order new adjusters. I'd find it odd that they are frozen.

[wildcat077]

Whenever i need to remove any of the rear suspension bolts for torsion bar replacements or whatever reason i use an impact gun ... some of those bolts are torqued to 180 ft/lbs and unless the guy knows it he might have a hard time loosening them with a wrench.

If i were you,i would go to another place that specializes in Porsches !

Just sayin ...

Cheers !
Phil

[strikee]

He was working on the inside of the wheel, would that be the camber adjustment bolts?

Cant work out if it was either 18/19 or 26/25 in this image.



Interesting comments on them being particularly tight, perhaps he wasnt as competant as i first thought.

The non-adjustment.




Ed

[HFR_Racer]

Bolt 18,19 are the bolts that are super tight. 25, 26 for camber, caster.. Yes.. Those shouldn't be that big of a deal to loosen. Soak'em and hit em with an impact to loosen.

In nothing, then make sure you can buy them and then cut em off.. You need to be able to adjust all of those to get your ride height, camber and caster.

[HFR_Racer]

Oops!!! I didn't really mean ride height.. I meant to adjust load for corner balance :0

[Mahler9th]

I have worked on quite a few Porsches with trailing arms and have never seen those fasteners so seized up that they couldn't be budged. In cases where I have to use a lot of torque, I start with a breaker bar (of course after a penetrant has been applied). If that doesn't work I sometimes can use a stronger battery-powered impact gun. My max approach is a really long breaker bar or a pneumatic impact driven by my nitrogen tank with a pretty good amount of pressure.

For the trailing arms, if I were just going to loosen things up myself, I might put the suspension in droop first. Then mark the position of the trailing arms relative to the spring plates. There are a number of ways to mark 'em. Why? Because I might lose my alignment completely when I get everything loose. The marks can be helpful to set things back close to where they were.

On a 911 with the suspension loaded, you will get max negative camber and toe out in the rear when everything lets go. That's okay if you are a gonna align her right away. Not as okay if you need to drive a bunch before she is aligned.

[boyt911sc]

Originally Posted by strikee

Hey wayne.

Should of made myself clear, not trying to do the alignment, just wanted to unsieze these adjustment nuts.

It is a reputable shop, they do four corner alignment and specialise in performance vehicles. He was very familiar with set up and talked with confidence.

I guess I need to understand why the entire rear of the car needs to be pulled apart.

Cheers
Ed

Ed,

Those alignment cam bolts tend to seize when they are not touched or adjusted for many years. If your guy is familiar with the 911 rear suspension, there is no good reason to remove the trailing arms during wheel alignment unless you want it replaced. Find someone who knows about this car not just any good mechanic.

Tony

[strikee]

Thanks all some good advice. I have an independent guy in mind. Porsche officionado.

[Bill Jennings]

Hi Ed,
Just saw your post and PM its weird I was there just yesterday watching them align another car while they were changing my tyres.
I'm more than a bit surprised there is some question about their ability to deal with your frozen adjusters though.
They told me they see a lot of Porsche's but maybe mostly newer ones?

Cheers

Bill

[Driven97]

Make sure he loosened #21 and the counterpart identical screw above it. Without doing that the adjusters can't wedge the banana arm around in relation to the spring plate. I made that mistake, took me a good 5 minutes before I realized it.

[uwanna]

Originally Posted by Driven97

Make sure he loosened #21 and the counterpart identical screw above it. Without doing that the adjusters can't wedge the banana arm around in relation to the spring plate. I made that mistake, took me a good 5 minutes before I realized it.

What he said! Was thinking the same thing since I read your first post.

[manbridge 74]

Update to a better shop is the answer.