Hondaciv866

Yep i was not lucky. bolts are frozen in the bushing sleeve. Going to have to cut them off. I hear that the nut on the body of the car can fall off and down into the frame of the car. Does this always happen or only if the nut holding area was damaged during the removal process? I really do not want to try and fish this nut out. i ll try to catch it i guess before it falls and hold it up with something until new bolt/arm ready to go through.

98civdx

if that nut broke free, get ready to cut holes. there's only one way to fix it.

Your idea isn't going to work.

Hondaciv866

i am in the middle of doing this job right now.. and i just wanted to post some updates to help someone else out there..


reason i m doing this job is, inorder to use the trailing arm press (the schnely or w/e) i need to disconnect the compensator arms.. the bolts in the arms are frozen. i ordered new bolts from honda and new compensator arms.. i m cutting the bolts out. It is a real PITA. I bought a 4.5 angle grinder from harbor freights. it was to short.. I am now using a 7inch angle grinder. It reaches the bolts, but you need to angle it right and be sure not to cut other ****. i nic'd my rear parking brake cable ughh! small nic no real damage. Becareful when cutting these bolts. If i were to do this all over again maybe i d try a sawsall

also i did not lose the compensator bolt in the "frame" of the car. Although i can easily see why it falls out. I pushed it all the way down to the side and jimmy'd a screw drive behind it and have not lost it. also after cutting the bolt, i left some of the bolt sticking from the nut.. i had to go spend more money and by a map torch, to heat the compensator nut that is in the "frame", and then the bolts came right out.. currently now working on getting the trailing arm bushings in.. Real PITA.. the moog ones wont press in, i think they are oversized this may be why?? i got them in the freezer now and i also tapered the edge on this on the side it presses in with. hopefuly this will help.

tercel95

I always use a Sawzall. I've removed the LCAs on 3 of my Hondas and the same bolt (drivers side hub) broke on all of them. I use the Sawzall to cut the LCA out then drill the rest of the bolt out until I can get it spinning with a pair of vice grips. I can do it in under 30 mins now that I have a bit of practice.

Hondaciv866

yeah sawzall may be easier.. but i m not 100% on this. the compensator bolts seem to be way harder to access. especially if you are using jack stands and not a lift.. space and angles are limited by alot.. its hard to get height where the comp bolts are cause its deeper forward when you jack the car from the back.. my jack stands were at there highest level. still got them though. i think even with my angle grinder the lca bolts would be easier to get to vs the comp bolts.. lca is more bolts though.

got the moog bushing in.. trick was to taper the very edge with the angle grinder, then freeze them over night, then use a sledge to get them started even (because before using the taper/sledge could not get the moog trailing arm bushing to go in straight no matter what i did) then use the schnley press.

hope this helps someone some day.

98civdx

i doubt they are oversized, unless you got DA Trailing arm bushings. They can be a real bitch getting them out sometimes.

With the amount of trouble your having with the bolts, I would expect the bushings to be froze in there as well.

I have no rust issues, and pulling my TA bushings were a pain in the ***.

Hondaciv866

finally got the new ones in.. job is done. yeah job is a pain. but managble especially with the press. forgot to mention i also unbolted the parking brake and brake line brackets from the trailing arm so that when it was "hanging" down and only supported by the lower control arm it would not put stress on the brakeline/ parking brake cable.. i then also used a jack stand underneath the trailing arm for some support.