Steering Stabilizer

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

I'm trying to swap out my steering stabilizer, picked up a nice Rancho replacement...but I can't seem to get the old one off. The first speedbump is the cotter pin holding the castle nut in place on the center link. I can't get that damn thing to move at all! Doesn't help that it's on the back side of the link, and you have to hold your tools upside down to get at it :mad:
Next, am I going to need a puller to get the stud loose from the center link? Luckily the bolt holding it to the bracket isn't frozen, so at least half of it will come out easy. Anyone have any suggestions for getting this thing out of there?

[OBI WAN]

Even when I do ball joints I never pull the cotter pin, they'll shred to pieces when a wrench with force is applied! Pickle fork sometimes if the setup is right or a simple 2 jaw puller will take care of the other!

[Blazer69]

beat it till it comes out then replace with all new parts....lol

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

Guess I'll borrow a puller from autozone and try to get my big ass crescent on there and bust that cotter pin off. The new stud doesn't use a cotter pin, lock washers instead. Thanks for the info, Obi!

[bvr775]

the cotter pin is easy if you have good set of wire cutters(side snips). cut one end off and grab hol of the outher with the cutter and pry aginst the nut.
you will need a pickle fork for the rest. they'er like 10-15 bux

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

You really can't get any snips in there at the pin. I could probably cut the open ends off, but you can't even get needle nose at the closed end, it's too close into the nut (and you're working blind since it's on the opposite side of the centerlink, above you). I've been trying to work with a mirror and flashlight to see what I'm doing with it. I tightened down the bracket bolt for now, I"ll get back to it on Sat when I have a puller on hand.

[OBI WAN]

Even on ball joints the cotter pin rusts into place and all you do is clip off the ends leaving the rest. If worse comes to worse, buy a nut splitter, ALWAYS hand to have around and split that b*tch. I had to use one to get my idler arm nut off because I couldnt stop the dam thing from spinning. 3 minutes later is was pieced after 2 hours a pry bars etc trying to hold that b*tch down tight enough to undo it!

[bvr775]

use an ice pick and dig the closed out.

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

I tried that. It snapped off the tip.

[bvr775]

Well that's the breaks when it comes to working on old ****. You just have to dig it with something out. I've use a small flathead, a fork(my wife was not amussed), a punch, a drill bit, or whatever i had laying around to dig cotter pins out.
It's a leaning exsperence.

did you get a pickle fork yet?

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

Not yet, I'm still at work today. I don't leave for another 2 hrs.

[Maxx]

use the persuader! When it dont want to go get a bigger hammer. lol!

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

Little update. Spent a few hours tonight and got the stock stabilizer off. Quite a battle, but it's off. The only problem is I can't get the mount on the center link off. I would have rented a two jaw puller to press it out, but they were all out at Autozone. I got the bright idea that I'd just cut off the large piece on the underside and hammer it out through the top...then I realized the damn thing is tapered so it'll only come out the bottom. Got a little irritated and crazy and got the idea to start drilling. Got about 1/4" into it after an hour...and decided I'll just wait to get the puller tomorrow.

The nut splitter did a good job getting that castle nut off. I couldn't get the pickle fork in a useful spot to pry off the stablizer, so I hit the bushing with the old bernzomatic and yanked it off.

Anyone have any ideas for pressing out a bolt without the proper tools? I'd really like to be done with this, I hate stopping in the middle of a job.

[OBI WAN]

Lets see, its gotta come out from the top to bottom which sounds like you can get at it!
2 Jaw you might be able to wrap around the bar enough to use the center bolt piece to press it out as you tighten!

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

Went and rented a pitman arm puller (it was back in stock today). Damn, that thing worked awesome! About two full turns and it popped right out. I went and bought myself a 2/3 jaw puller when I returned the loaner, I'm not gonna be without one again!

Anyhow, got the new one on. I'll get a picture to compare to the stocker up sometime tonight or tomorrow. I'll also get a pic of the murder I did to the old hardware.

It made a noticable difference over the old one. The wheel feels much more solid going over speedbumps and turning. The shock tube is quite a bit larger around than the GM part was. It is a bit harder to turn the wheel without power steering, though. Oh well, everything's a trade off.

I feel the back end 'sliding' a bit while taking 90* degree turns, but I know that's unrelated. I'm going to have to check the end links and axle mounts on my rear sway bar, the shock mounts and the spring hangers. Any other spots I should check out?

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

Okay, before and after.

Stocker: (pretty old picture, from 2003 when I was installing the headers and y-pipe)

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/Stabilizer.jpg

New:

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/Newstabilizer.jpg

What's left of the old one:

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/murderstabilizer.jpg

here's the mount and nut that caused so much trouble. The cotter pin is still inside the bolt, but you can't see it...when the nut finally unscrewed it cut threads into the pin so it looks like a solid piece!

http://hooverae.com/upload/files/Stabmount.jpg

[OBI WAN]

Anything has to be better than that old crusty thing!

[Matt 4.3 TBI]

I was surprised how much pressure the old one still has. Not as much as the new one...but it certainly wasn't drained. Pretty good for 14 years of service.