Yesterday I set out to replace the upper control arms and sway arm bushings in my 300s. The '84 D R&R went perfectly and I had her back on the road in about three hours. I was feeling good and set to work on the '83 TD when the trouble soon began. Yeah the passenger side UCA bolt is siezed with a vengeance (I guess she felt neglected) on the old bushings. I did the obligatory soaking with "Liquid Wrench", rocked the bolt back and forth inside the deteriorated bushing and even gave it a healthy beating with a hand sledge. No Go Joe!! I searched the threads and found cutting and torching to be the preferred solutions. Cutting seems like a real trick to me. How to get the sawzall/hacksaw in any kind of workable position is what I wonder. I like the torch idea a little better. I found the following thread:

This is junqueyardjim from April 2005--

Finally got it done!
This was definetly not a job for the faint of heart. First I couldn't get the bolts out, but resolved that with a torch. I did burn some of the undercoat out and actually had a fire going on the plastic inner fender, which I will replace next summer when I replace the front fenders. But I only used a torch as a last resort, nothing else would move them out. I did spray in a new "under coat" and it seems like real tough stuff. Kept old wet towels on the top side and that paint all seems to be OK. I did have a bit of difficulty in getting new bolts back into the holes. The bolts I got were about an inch longer and after messing around with getting them into the hole and all the way through, I ground a nice taper on them, made sure the thread still started well and they went right in. I also found that it helped to leave the stabilizer sitting in its hole (in the arm) with just the inside bushing on, until I got both main bolts in. Thanks again to all those that sent me suggestions.

He doesn't elaborate though. It seems like he cut the bolts with oxy/acetylene and then had to replace them. I have just an acetylene torch with which I can heat (pretty darn hot) but not cut the bolts. I'm thinking if I get 'em good and hot, then I can bang 'em the rest of the way with my hammer.

Am I on the right path? Is my thinking logical? Any ideas other than cut/torch? Any help surely appreciated.