I posted last week about alignment bolts frequently being rusted into place and not wanting to come out. On my Sedona, it ended up being worst-case. In the process of trying to remove a bad rear lateral arm on Friday, I unknowingly was hammering so hard that I completely bent the mounting points for the arm. I was hammering from underneath the van, so I couldn't see what was happening. With no effective way to bend it back myself, and with the arm STILL stuck in place, I hobbled the van to a local shop I've used before. It ended up that the subframe mounting was so bent, it couldn't safely be bent back. They had to source a used subframe (which was actually reasonable in cost), and 2 new lateral links, since both of the old ones were completely seized and had to be cut, even the good one. Van should be ready by Saturday, but the total cost is just over $1,200
seeing that this is a work vehicle and I can't be without it for more than a few days, I really had no other option.
TLDR; don't bother hammering, just cut those darn alignment bolts out.
TLDR; don't bother hammering, just cut those darn alignment bolts out.