Rusty UCA snap ring

Hey guys, anyone have any tips and tricks for removing rusty snap rings in UCA’s? My total chaos arms have spent too many winters in Marylands salty roads. Ugh! I’ve soaked them in pb blaster the last two days. Thought freshing up my uppers would be a simple task….. 6 hours to remove 4 bolts!!! I have new bushings, uniballs, & snap rings. But after closer inspection my misalignment spacers are ovaled and my knuckle bolts are different threads (some shop back in the day I’m sure) all in all TC wants close to $200.00 for 2 sets of spacers, 2 bolts, 4 washers, & 2 nuts. Oh I’m sure my maxtrac spindles had something to do with the spacers

 

Snap ring pliers(internal)

 

Ummm, yeah I’ve tried that. Now my pliers are not the best soo maybe I need better quality ones. I’ve even tried needle nose pliers that fit in the holes. No movement as of now. Also using a punch around the ring to try to loosen the rusty grip of hell.

 

The proper snap ring pliers will help a lot. I tried cheapo ones and it didn’t work, got new ones from Home Depot and it was easy

 

I’ve been looking for a 2nd hand vise for a while and when I need one…. But good advice! Was totally shocked by “Pats” quote from TC. I do have a fastenall up the road I might check out for parts. So the bottom spacers are the ones that are ovaled, thinking it has something to do with my maxtracs. Btw the upper arms were a afterthought, I’m also replacing my LCA;ball joints, bushings, hardware. Didn’t expect my uppers to such a pain in the wallet.

 

Not sure about ovalized spacers, but this damage is caused by incorrect installation. When you tighten the UCA to the spindle, jack up the spindle to approx. normal ride height. Attempting assembly at full suspension droop will cause the spacer lip to be caught by the bearing cup, regardless of stock spindle or Maxtrac spindle.

 

That’s what I’m thinking too, when I had the Maxtracs installed, I stopped off-roading my truck. I had started towing a flatbed trailer with bikes to the desert instead of mobbing in the truck. So I beefed up the suspension and took off my deaver leaf pack and put in a Dakar leaf pack (overkill) also swapped icon 2.0’s with icon 2.5 and my truck had a stink bug stance, rebuilt my icons with kings springs (700lbs) and then ultimately had the maxtracs installed to reverse the stink bug look and ride. Wish I never went that route because shortly after I had done this we moved across the country and I don’t tow out here and we left our dirt bikes back in CA.