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Driver’s Side rear LCA bolt removal

Another question: do you think I can just separate the LCA ball joint from the knuckle while leaving the knuckle attached to the UCA? Of course I would remove break rotor, caliper, CV axle and bearing.
 
I’ll answer this myself. You have to drop the front differential to get the rear LCA bolts out. Also had to undo and move the transmission and torsion bar crossmembers to get the LCAs to drop down for removal.
 
@Big T I see what you mean now that I'm attempting to remove the LCAs on my K3500 project. Only on the passenger side at the moment. Rear LCA bolt on the pass side has the head facing the front and won't back out all the way before hitting the union of front diff and CV axle.

When you say drop the front diff, do you mean remove the entire assembly, or can you get away with unbolting one side at a time to create the necessary clearance? I lost daylight and didn't get to look at the driver's side yet. From the title of your post it seems both sides have interference issues.

When you re-installed the LCAs, did you put the bolts in the other way so that you wouldn't have to drop the diff again in the future? I can't see any reason why not to...
 
@Big T I see what you mean now that I'm attempting to remove the LCAs on my K3500 project. Only on the passenger side at the moment. Rear LCA bolt on the pass side has the head facing the front and won't back out all the way before hitting the union of front diff and CV axle.

When you say drop the front diff, do you mean remove the entire assembly, or can you get away with unbolting one side at a time to create the necessary clearance? I lost daylight and didn't get to look at the driver's side yet. From the title of your post it seems both sides have interference issues.

When you re-installed the LCAs, did you put the bolts in the other way so that you wouldn't have to drop the diff again in the future? I can't see any reason why not to...
When I say “drop the diff” you have to undo both sides to lower it with a jack. You only need to lower it an inch or two. You do need to undo both sides.

No I installed the bolts the same way as I was not sure of the clearance when installing the bolt the other way. This is not a job you do all that often, so I would not fret over it.
 
@Big T I found a way to get the bolt out without dropping the diff. If you unbolt the CV joint from the stub shaft the bolt has *just* enough wiggle room to slide out. One of the hex sides has to be exactly parallel to the stub shaft face that's how tight it is. Didn't get a picture on one side but will get one of the other.
 
@Big T I found a way to get the bolt out without dropping the diff. If you unbolt the CV joint from the stub shaft the bolt has *just* enough wiggle room to slide out. One of the hex sides has to be exactly parallel to the stub shaft face that's how tight it is. Didn't get a picture on one side but will get one of the other.
This has not always worked for me.
 
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