so i was doing some suspension work today and found myself in a pickle. How am i supposed to get the lower caliper mounting bolt out in the front end? i know my service manual says to pry at it with a screwdriver to gain access, but the be perfectly honest that doesn't help me even the slightest. i was wondering if any of you guys had any clever solutions to this, as i am sure you have also been confronted with the same issue. thanks!

 

are you talking about the caliper bracket bolts from the backside?? cuz there a PITA i had to grind the backet a bit to get the bottom one off.

 

Remove one of the 17mm bolt that holds the strut assembly from the lower control arm then swing it around to gain acccessn

 

The way I have always done it is getting a wrench on the bolt the best I could and using a screwdriver as leverage to hold the wrench on the bolt as I turn it. took me a little bit to figure out how to do it, but once I figured it out its almost as easy as the top bolt, never had to grind or loosen the strut assembly.

 

^ +1 what wacky said

 

after you spend 6 hours getting them off, grind the lip off of the mounting point around the bottom bolt so next time you can get a wrench on there easy. I HATE those bolts.

 

thanks for the help fellas

 

Stick with what Whacky said... grinding the flange off the bracket weakens one of the most important assemblies on the car.
Drop one bolt out the bottom, then rotate the knuckle. Takes 2 minutes, easy peasy.

 

i didnt mean to grind off the whole lip, just enough to be able to get a wrench on it.

 

Could also go to sears and get a offset head wrench. No need to remove the large strut to knuckle arm bolt (which in these parts is usually rusted in there pretty good, unless its been apart before) and no need to grind/modify anything...