96 EX

Was removing my blown shocks/springs to replace them with these freebies I got in a buy. I was removing the LCA bolt and it snapped off! Now I'm stuck trying to figure out how to get the damn thing out. Any input would be apprechiated, also sorry about the pictures they were shot on my phone.

lponcian5799

try drilling into it, using a small drill bit go through the whole screw and it should just fall out, but you have to keep it straight so you won't damage your bushings! after that it should just fall right out!

96 EX

I'll give it a whirl, I had a dumb *** attack and unbolted the shock first then attempted to unbolt the LCA while it was pinched from the shock not being there. Guess thats part of learning? Thanks for the input so far, anymore would be apprechiated.

lponcian5799

it happens man, same EXACT thing happened to me, what you have to watch out for is hopefully the bolt is not frozen into the bushing, "sadly" mines was and it had to be replaced, at least it was a good excuse to buy aftermarket LCA's

96 EX

Well after almost 2 hours of working on it..... NOTHING. This is being the biggest bitch of my life today, I've drilled most of the bolt out except for when it begins to thread through the nut. Now it has shot out of the side and is totally missing the bolt. I think I might just go to the junk yard and grab the whole assembly off one of the civics there. Any opinions? I'll grab a couple shots of it in a little bit.

96 EX

After taking a break and thinking about it, I think I'm going to cut the end of the bolt off by the nut, then drill threw the rest of the bolt that is inside. It barely hanging on but I cant drill it through the same side anymore. So tomorrow morning I'm going to get at it early since I've got to be in class at 1. My options are as follows:

Attempt to get the rest of the bolt out of the LCA by grinding the bolt by the nut flat and drilling threw it that way.

OR

Take the whole assembly off and go to the junk yard and grab another and put it back on.

I would like to be able to make it to my class at 1 but if I cant its really no biggy. Which one would you recommend doing that would fix this problem in the shortest amount of time??

Group Tenacity

this happened to me years ago. I just used a propane tourch to heat up the nut and bolt that is stuck in there, sprayed water on the bolt piece, and grabbed it with vice grips and threaded it out...

MonkeyMagic

bolt extracter...

96 EX

Can I pick this bolt extracter up at AutoZone/Advanced? Need to get this donetoday! Morning bump, Thanks for the help so far.

ShinyNewPenny

I just recently had this problem. I tried a bolt extractor and it didn't do any good for me.

I ended up cutting through the bushing and bolt on the opposite side of the LCA in your picture. That allowed me to remove the entire shock assembly and LCA from the car. I had to drill out the remaining end of the bolt that was still in the nut. The bolt was frozen to the bushing, so I scrapped the whole assembly and bought aftermarket LCAs and coilovers. Big headache in the end.

96 EX

Crazy, I went and got the extractor from lowes and on my 2nd try the bit ****ing broke..... I'm at my patience's end at this point. ATM I'm taking the whole assembly off but the ****ing trailing arm nut is froze too! This is a ****ing joke, so much for making it too class. I might try and just cut through the bushing, what do you recommend??

lponcian5799

thats what i ended up doing, sawed through the bushing on both sides and LCA just came clean off

rick_rabies

replace everything you take out with new bolts and nuts. it helps when you gotta take stuff off again.

weavertime1

iTrader: (2)

This is one of Honda's few problems suspension-wise. I have parted out about 50 civics/integras and probably 45 of them had at least one bolt frozen in the bushing it goes through. It typically happens to the bolt that holds the shock up, but I have seen it in the same location as yours. It was nothing you did wrong I promise. A note to all who just purchased a civic/integra...if you can, pull these bolts out ASAP and put never-seize on them and reinstall them. This will keep them from freezing up in the bushing. On the other hand...if you attempt to remove them, and they don't want to come out...leave them in until you can replace everything, because trust me...there is really no way to save all the parts if this happens. What I typically do is this:
1) Remove the other lca bolts that will come out.
2) use a torch (however archaic it may be...it is the only thing that works efficiently).
3) Cut the frozen lca bolt without lighting your car on fire...keep a hoze nearby to put out any large fires!
4) If you don't leave enough bolt to turn out of the threaded side of the trailing arm, you might have to torch the threaded piece off and use a nut when you reinstall the new bolt. The same goes for the shock...it will have a welded nut on it. If the bolt gets stuck in that nut, just torch it off, and use a nut upon re installation.
5) Go buy a new lca, bolt and a couple of nuts if need be, and reinstall the new lca.
6) Good luck!

If you are not competent with a torch and hand tools, DO NOT TRY THIS!

96 EX

Finally got the control arm off but the bushing is ****ed, should I attempt to go to the junk yard and get a new control arm or buy a new bushing and have it pressed in??
Edit: Just called honda, have to buy the whole control arm = $250-260. **** THAT.

TatDc5

another control arm would work, however make sure the bushing isnt completely shot already.

i dont know how much new bushings cost from the stealership. after market bushings arent too expencive, and they dont need to be pressed it with anything other then a simple bench vice. getting the old one out will be hard as heck tho.

good luck

lponcian5799

i mean, you can buy aftermarket blox LCA's from jhpusa.com for like less than $100, but if you need them asap, i would buy a new bushing

redlinetuning

Agreed, these are never easy to take out. If you don't break one, you'll break another.

junk yard LCA's ? you'll probably have the same problem there. Not worth the trouble. I say suck it up, order new aftermarket ones and have them dropshipped (overnighted)...

Put some anti-seize on the bolts before installing.

96 EX

Alright the way its looking no body can order these in, so aftermarkets might be my option here. Any suggestions? I know there are Blox, Skunk 2, anything else? At this point I just want my damn car fixed.

98civdx

blox is good and cheep, skunk 2 is great but a bit pricy
there is ksport and someothers i cant think of right this minute

redlinetuning

get the blox and save for a subframe brace/tie bar sway bar setup

lponcian5799

x2

ryanhauk

i bought the blox ones and i havent had any trouble with them. and they look good too. go ahead and buy a benen tie bar while your at it. i bought both for about 250.00 from jhpusa.com. thats your cheapest/best bet. good luck

96 EX

I just ordered a set of Blox's from cali, which is 3 hours behind me so the invoice should of been made around 8:30am their time. I got 2 day air on it too so hopefully it'll be here tomorrow. My bolt for my trailing arm is froze up btw, it wont budge whether you try to loosen or tighten it. I'm soaking it with WD-40 in the meantime till the LCA's show up. Any advice?

sde780

use pb blaster, not wd40. itll work wonders. i did my whole cars suspension without breaking anything, and this is a 91 civic thats been through many winters