simple4012

My rear LCA arems are frozen onto the car...they wont budge. No matter what. ANY IDEAS????? Both the bolt that hold the rear shock on and the arm itself to the spindle are frozen HELP!!!!!!!!!!

I tried wd-40, cursing, a breaker bar.....everything

Doctor CorteZ

cut em
then with vise grips and alot of time back the bolts out

the threads arent frozen , the bolts have bonded to the metal insert on the bushings

they wont come off

civicrr

Or break them. I see that a lot @ my friend's shop. Be prepared to replace some bushings too.

johng

Get a big air tool on it. If you don't have a way to get air to it, you should be able to rent a electric impact gun.

civicrr

Try to track down a product called Corrosion-X. My truck had a stuck self locking nut on the turbo flange. WD-40 did nothing. I was planning on breaking/cutting it off. My friend set me up with a can of this stuff. I put some on & waited 10 min. It came off smooth & easy.

If you can't find it locally, I can get you a number of a shop in Santa Rosa, CA

VTEConly

Yep it's very common. Just had my springs replaced last weekend. Both bolts that go through the shock had to be cut and they were stuck on the Koni nut that is welded on the Konis. The guys at the shop had to break those nuts off the Konis too. Luckily they had all new bolts and nuts in hardened steel #8 in stock and replaced them. I think we also replaced one of the LCA bolts that go into the subframe (through the bushing of course). I wonder if I should replacing some of those bushings. They looked ok from the outside though. Is there a good way to see if the LCA bushings are damaged? They don't make any noises (I don't think).
I 'd have to disconnect the Comptech lower tie bar to replace those..
Make sure you order some bolts from the dealer or go to a fastener shop if you have one in your area. I was also able to find those 10mm LCA bolts at a hardward store but they weren't exactly the same. They were threaded from top to bottom unlike the OEM ones that are only threaded from the middle on down.. They 're on the car now and the seem to be working fine. Always be prepared with bolts when doing suspension work. The dealers don't stock them either so you have to order them from them (or A&H) a week in advance before you start to work on the car.

civicrr

Hmm. Most of the time it is corrosion in the metal sleeve of the bushing that is causing the problem. If your bushings weren't causing the problems, I wouldn't worry about them.

NegativeLift

TORCH!

then get bolts and bushings from honda or your favorite bushing supplier

kenji

Here is a trick that works occasionally...

-Get a decent impact gun with a decent compressor behind it
-Hit the bolt real quick in both directions (forward and reverse)
-Then hit it for a while in reverse

You can spray stuff on it too. Try some of the corrosion penetrant mentioned above.

I just ran into this on my '92 CX and it worked on one out of two bolts. This is a common problem that turns a 40 minute spring/coilover install into a nightmare.

Good luck.

-kenji

Willard

-smoke wrench
-2.5lb sledge
-3' long pry bar
-beer