Adjustment of the left and right bumper arms of MK2 - Video

Note that there are two bolts on these arms which attach to the frame and the bumper. I was going to remove these arms to pull the bumper as I was having such a hard time with the front two carriage bolts which I ended up cutting with a sawzaw.

I can get a ratchet onto the front most nut but there is no way to begin ratching the wrench to remove the nuts. I do not see the other side of the bolt and presume that it is welded into the frame rail.

Nothing easy on this car!

All feedback welcome.

Gerard

Hello Gerard,

The inner bumper arm fasteners screw into weld nuts that are affixed to the body structure. There’s no secret to removing these bolts. I’d recommend soaking them with Kroil (or your favorite rust penetrant) and let them soak as long as you’re willing/able to wait. I’d apply heat before trying to remove them and I would work them back and forth to avoid snapping or stripping them. When removed, I’d suggest chasing the weld nut threads with a tap to clean them up for re-installation ease. I applied anti-seize on my restored hardware before re-installing these bolts in the event that someone wishes to restore our car 55 years from now…LOL!

As a related aside, some ratchet wrenches require a shorter rotation in order to ‘ratchet’ than others. It is for this reason that I purchased a set of Snap-On 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drive ratchet handles. Snap-On handles have much finer teeth than a lot of their competitors so they require less rotation in order to ‘ratchet’. These are one of the very few Snap-On tools that I own and they have been a good investment for this reason alone…I can work more efficiently in tight spaces like this.