98obster Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 (edited) I was all set to swap out my strut assemblies on the 97 outback. I started on the driver rear-unclipped the brake line and secured it out of the way and disconnected the ABS and loosened the upper mount bolts. I got the upper bolt loosened with the breaker bar and socket on either side but the lower bolt was more difficult. I managed to round off the bolt head with the 12 point socket. Someone needs to tell me that the 6 point socket is better to remove the bolt. So, I went and bought a 6 point socket and wrench. I will have to remove the horked bolt with vise grips and the box wrench, hopefully and replace the lower bolt with the upper bolt and put a camber bolt in the upper position. the struts are giving me a lift so the camber bolts are probably needed anyway. I just hate being the first person this has ever happened to. So, tell me-for high torque situations-stay away from the 12 point sockets right? oh yeah, I've already opened a can of PB blaster rump roast on all 4 corners. Edited March 1, 2009 by 98obster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogstar7055 Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 PB blaster is your friend. Never use a "12 point" on hardened bolts,always use a 6 point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98obster Posted March 1, 2009 Author Share Posted March 1, 2009 Corrected. thanks Frogstar. it was a cheap lesson I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave833 Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Sounds like me today! I swapped out the front strut assemblies on my '97 GT wagon and tightened one of the upper strut mount bolts til it broke off! Now what do I do? (I did use a lot of PB blaster today though... good stuff!) I do remember swapping out the rears on my '95 legacy wagon a few years ago. What a PITA that was! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 Sounds like me today! I swapped out the front strut assemblies on my '97 GT wagon and tightened one of the upper strut mount bolts til it broke off! Now what do I do? go get a grade 8 bolt, nut and some washers (both flat & lock type) of an appropriate size and bolt it in - did the same thing you did on the 89 GL - snapped the stud...seems to me i was able to pop the stud out of the tophat, but it may need to be drilled out. kind of a trick to get it up in there but it can be done - especially if you can get a helper with small hands to feed the bolt up from the underside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Or you can try to cut the nut off with a nut splitter or dremel or something. Yes in all applications where a 6pt socket will fit, use a 6pt socket. Esp in a high torque application like this. 12pt sockets can be helpful for certain tasks or obviously on 12pt fasteners but are much more likely to round off a t6pt fastener. If you damage the bolt I would just replace with a new Subaru bolt. Some of the metric JIS fasteners are stronger than grade 8 so replacing with grade 8 might actually be a step down. The strut mount studs will snap pretty easily. Torque wrench is a safe way to go, going by feel have seen some threads where people snapped them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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