Itinerant Air-Cooled

I'm replacing the shocks on our '76 bus. The rears went fine. When I got the front upper bolt out, it looks like it has two shoulders, a 17mm one and a 12 mm one. Is the big shoulder supposed to be there? I'm thinking I pulled the metal sleeve out of the shock bushing, but it is really welded on there. The bottom stud went the same way, I wiggled the shock off and this bigger shoulder stuck there. Here's a picture of the top bolt:


If these should come off, suggestions are always welcome! I hit them with some penetrating oil and left them. The top bolt I can always turn down in a lathe, but the bottom one looks like a tougher deal.

jcbrock wrote: If these should come off, suggestions are always welcome!

They need to leave. The worst rust-bonded one I came across, I had to dremel a groove down the sleeve and chisel it off the bolt. A vise is nice for the upper, the car serves as a vise for the lower one. Good luck!
Colin

Got them loose. I took a "large-behind" pipe wrench and got the bushings to start spinning. The top one I then just held in a vise and tapped the bolt out. The bottom I used a small-shaft bearing puller (1/2 to 3/4 or so) to get into the side of the bushing. I got it to budge by pushing off the casting, then repositioned the puller behind the bushing and pulled it off. I'd be done, if I hadn't had one of the nuts run off somewhere. This was all on the right side. The left side just came apart like it was supposed to.