Lower Control arm help please!!

[veetwelve]

I am changing the lower control arms on a 99 protege and I seem to have run into a problem.
When i was taking the rear bracket off to get the rear of the control arm out, it seems that one of the nuts on the inside of the chassis has snapped off. It is just turning freely now.

This is the outer bolt on the rear arm bracket. Has this happened to anyone? or is there just a slot that the funt has to fall into.... It happened on both sides of the car.

On the back bracket there are 2 bolts on 1 side and 1 on the other... it is the side with only the 1 bolt that seems to have broken.

Any suggestions... please?

 

[Mazda_maniac]

Happened to me on one side, They thread into the frame I believe sorry to say.
I believe I had to pull the carpet, center punch where it came through and drill through below the pedals to access it. I belive i put a nut on the other side and did it up, sealed the hole. I don't remember if thats exactly what I did but I believe it was something like that, you'll have to rig something together.

 

[veetwelve]

ya, we had to cut some holes in the fender well to get at it. Gonna pick up some new bolts tonight to finish it up.
i will post some pics in the how to section, cause I am sure this is a common issue.

Pretty poorly designed if you ask me.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Mazda_maniac]

Agreed on the poor design. just make sure you get a rubber seal for that hole to protect against rust.

 

[Bartron8000]

This happened to me as well. All I did was remove the rear engine cradle bolts and used a very large metal bar, pried the cradle down enough to install a longer bolt with a nut. Was a very simple and effective fix.

 

[lilpoindexter]

DAMN...I did the control arms on my 99 here in detroit where we used road salt...and both sides came out ok....one of the bolts looked like swiss cheese though....damn road salt....2 or 3 more months and i might have been in the same boat.