Thankfully those bolts and the T/C rods all came out without too much effort and none got broken. I had originally hoped to install just the T/C rod bushings but because the control arm had already had the OEM bushing removed for the camber bushing, I could install those too. But sadly, because of the cable clamp, I don't have all the hardware for the T/C rods, so I had to order a new kit.
Which means, because (for each side) the two T/C rod nuts, and the bolt on the control arm are already removed, there is just three nuts on the tophat and the whole wheel assembly will fall right out (forgetting the tie-rod end and brake hose, of course).
But wouldn't it be a better idea to remove the control arm from the strut and pull the ball-joint/tie rod assembly, then drop out the strut/brakes?
Maybe not when they look like this:
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But I had to do it. The dust shields on both the tie-rod ends and the ball joints are gone and they all need to be replaced. This is one reason that there is so much crap in there. The grease just went everywhere. Also I want to sand-blast and repaint everything before it goes back in after the wheel bearings are replaced.
After much fighting, I did get everything out. I think the grease/dirt mix did a lot to prevent the bolts from all seizing up because none of these broke.
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At the point these pics were taken the struts where still hanging in the car but I did get them out later. They are in the middle of bearing removal and genereal cleaning. Also in the pic is the 1" front sway bar. When removing that to replace the bushings and endlinks, I broke one of the bolts. Did I aready say that I hate rusty cars. Thankfully you don't need swaybars to drive and its a fairly easy fix to replace the sway bar mounts.
