Anybody here knowledgable about chevy full size (G20) van front suspensions? My '94 G20 has a stripped bolt and I am trying to find out how hard it will be to repair. There is a bracket on the front of the chassis where the top A frame shaft bolts to. It has 2 studs coming off it. This is where the adjustment shims go. The front stud is stripped and I am trying to determine if the stud is made onto the bracket or is a separate, replaceable piece.
On every GM that I've ever worked on, those bolts are splined into the mounting tab on the frame, just like wheel studs in the axle flanges. You should be able to press it out and replace it. Just look closely at the head. I've seen situations where a previous owner (or mechanic) had tack welded the bolt in place when the splines stripped.
That is kinda what I thought. The front end guy that found the problem didn't want to try and drive it out, figureing the bracket would have to be removed. I got a parts printout from the local Chevy dealer and it shows the studs as separate pieces. However, he said the parts might be different from the printout. This is why I asked if anybody had been into one of these.
Amazing that a "front end guy" wouldn't know this. BFH to the old one and draw the new one in with the nut,
I would have thought he would know how it went together. As many Chevy vans as there are, surely he has worked on some. I looked at it the next morning and determined in a minute what would have to come off to repair it. The stud is made into the bracket and it will have to be removed to replace the stud. There are no access holes in the frame, which would have made it a quick repair.
This seems to be true for all, Ford, GM and Chrysler. Guess they want to discourage anyone from working on their own vehicle and spend big bucks at the dealer.
dunno if you got this answered completely, but as I remember from when I pulled the entire front cross-member out of my 79 GMC G-van, those are a part of the x-member, and cannot be removed unless the x-member is removed. They may be pressed in, like other GM cars/trucks, I thought welded, but the x-member is backed up by the unit-body/frame, and there is no place to push the bolt into to get it out if they are pressed. Above, you can see the vertical flanges that the bolts go thru that are backed up against the frame. Below, you can see this here: Dropping the x-member is not difficult, but it is not a light job either. You can pull it complete with motor/trans (done it 3 times on different vans), drop it low enough, and you may be able to pull that wrecked bolt with out dropping it all the way out. I don't remember how they are attached, I though they were welded. If you need more info, PM me and I'll go through my pics of my swap. Also, go to Vannin.com, they may have info there on this issue. Good luck, Tom
Great pictures! The bracket that the bolts (they are splined and pressed in) are in will have to be removed. Getting to the bolts that hold the bracket to the frame is no problem, however, there are four rivets that connect the bracket and the lower crossmember together. On this van, with over 200,000 miles, I decided not to go any further with the repair. Since the load of the truck is on the lower end, and the top control arm does not have that much weight on it, I welded the control arm shaft to the nut with all the shims in place. I will not be able to set the camber again, but toe in can be set. I am presently looking for a replacement van and will eventually use this one for parts, or sell as is.
Yeah, in order to remove that bracket, you have to remove the entire crossmember. The side brackets and x-member are one monster unit. Per side there are 3 bolts going up from underneath, 2 bolts in from the outside, and 2 bolts out from the inside. For a 200K vehicle, probably a good fix in welding it up. If you absolutely have to change teh alignment before shipping it you can grind it out and re-shim. Tom
