The LCAs are off w/ the hubs still attached at their lower (stuck) pivot bolts. My initial thought is to apply heat and Aero Kroil then push 'em out in the press.
Does anyone in the Miata-experienced crowd have specific knowledge otherwise?
(BTW - my first impression of Miatas, having divested one of it's suspension and rear end in a day is that they're pretty much RWD Civics. And that's a good thing.)
Do you mean they are still attached by the lower ball joints?
If thats the case heat may do the trick but if it were me (and at one time it was) I just cut the ball joint with a sawz-all and then pushed out the spindle. Of course I had to replace the ball joint but at this stage yours are probably close to needing it anyways.
Usually heat, if you're talking about the fronts. Just put a nut on the balljoint before you start pounding so you don't mushroom it. Same applies to the rear, usually. Occasionally if the car's had some "rough loving" the bolt between the rear LCA and the knuckle will bend. Only fix for that is a sawzall. It's not near as hard as it sounds, it's much easier than pounding them out.
Sorry - Not my clearest writing.
The connection from the ~rear~ lower control arms to the ~rear~ hubs is effected by a sizable pivot bolt and some rubber or metal-lastic bushings. That pivot bolt is seized.
The beauty of having a big. burly press is that it's so much more refined than fustigating the living bejeebus out of the thing with the BFH. I've taken apart infinity of these sort of things forever - I just figured that with all the Miata-specific knowledge around here someone might chime in with some totally obvious thing I missed (trying to loosen it on the car with a 1/2 breaker bar and my jumbo cheater extension did nothing...)
For the fronts I finally (after decades of faking it) bought one of these:
(My name is motomoron and I approve of the hotlinked image above)
Get a sawzall & cut the bolt between the control arm & upright. You'll need a new bolt & outer control arm bushings, but that usually SOP for those things. They seize with rust or get bent from an accident.
Kendall
You are talking about that big ol' long bolt (~10" long) which goes through the bottom of the knuckle and the two outer bushings on the lower control arm, right? In the drawing below, it's the smaller of the two mount points. If so, yes they will seize due to rust. To get them out, you are going to need a torch, penetrating oil and patience. Putting them in the press will destroy the rubber bushings. BTDT. If you are careful with the cherry red wrench, the bushings will live.
Like Kendall says, unless they are lightly rusted. I just removed the same bolts from my Neon, and if they are rusted too badly, something has to be sacrificed. If they are not too bad, a BFH is actually better, since it shocks the rust and breaks it. In my case, it was the bolt and bushings that succembed to the hotwrench, but I'm pretty sure I carefully selected an eastern car for my project. Oh well, what can you expect for $200 at the insurance salvage?
If the bolt is seized in the bushings, occasionally careful amounts of penetrating oil and copious amounts of torque can break it loose from the bushings. If it's bent, well, then you're screwed. Time to get a saw.
We have taken apart a lot of Miata's. x2 left and right ;) so I literally have done this more than 100 times. That bolt can be a real bugger, especially if you are in a rust area, or like some one else said the bolt was bent. I dont think I have ever tried a sawzall though. Not saying it might not work, but what I do is first of all use my 1/2 impact. I try to remove (of course) and if it dont want to budge, i will douse in kroil, let soak for an hour or more, then I will go forward, reverse, forward reverse for a few minutes. if you still dont see any signs of movement, its time for the blue wrench. I will get the knuckles of the upright pretty warm, and then get the impact on the bolt. I continue to heat until I get any type of movement. once you can get the bolt turning stop the heat. then continue to just spin that bolt as fast as your wrench will go, and do that for quite a while.. 3-5 minutes. This will dislodge the rust. then put the wrench on reverse, and kinda "pinch" the bolt head with the socket while reversing, and pulling, once you can take an open end wrench under the bolt hat, and use that to apply pressure while backing out the bolt. like I said some times they are a real struggle ;)
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