95CoupinIt

I have a 1995 Civic Coupe and am gonna be puttin on my new KYB AGX shocks and H&R stage 2 springs. I have heard that chances are the rear LCA bolt that mounts the lower shock will snap off most likely when i go to take out the bolt. What are the best ways to prevent this from happening? and anyone have any idea how much new LCA's cost if the bolt gets stuck and i cant drill it or pound it out???
any tips would be appreciated. thanks

mps9506

I got lucky on my car and didn't have the problem. But I would recomend of course gobs of wd-40 or the equivelent. Some people say heat it with a torch.
On my buddies car we broke the nut on the shock itself and got that nut off and pounded the sucker through with a BFH. we had to take the whole lca to do it though, wasn't stable enough while still connected to the car.

95CoupinIt

so you just snapped the welds on the nut thats on the OEM Shock? hmm...sounds like an idea i guess if it gets seized up...hopefully ill be lucky..if not...the junkyard is where i am headed lol

any other suggestions from my fellow HT members is appreciated

DragII

you can drill it out...might take a while, and a few bits...but you can do it.

bigmike

Yea i had that problem too. Had to drill out both sides. When the LCA is off the car it is a lot easier, will be very time consuming. Unfortunatly i wasn't able to get one of the LCA's off the car because of another rusted bolt , so i had to drill it out on the car (took like 4 hours).... not fun at all.

good luck.


[Modified by bigmike, 8:38 PM 3/21/2002]

Suprdave

I JUST did this, so lemme give you some advice....

Use a Torch and heat the bushing...itll melt the rubber and the metal part will stil be rusted onto the Bolt. Then, start backing it out until the tip thread is out, then use a sawz-all and cut the ******* bolt off...

I wasted 4 hours until I devised this method...works great, especially if your changing out the LCA's for GSR or ITR.

Suprdave

owen_the_soyboy

drill it out.
cut off the ***** tip of the bolt with a dremel or grinding wheel.
drill into the bolt end with a 1/4" drillbit.
see if you can unscrew the bolt (dont snap the head off)
if you cant turn it yet, increase the drill size.
all you have to do is drill as deep as the threads and shock part are thick.
make that bolt into a tube to relieve some stresses and it heats the bushing's sleeve too.
good luck bro.
if that does not work. drill both ends and drop the LCA out.

TurboBumblBee

USE AIRTOOLS AND YOU WILL NOT HAVE A PROBLEM!! ive lowered on civic using hand tools, broke all the bolts i could, next two cars i used air tools and did not break a single bolt..

mantic6t9

Air tools will not always work. Ii tryed everything on mine torch, impact wrench hand tools ect.....This is how i did it but you will ruin your shock. Unbolt the rear LCAs and the upper shock mounts and remove the spring/shock assembly and LCA together as a whole. Put the shock in a vice or step on it, then take a hand held grinder with a cutting wheel and cut the head off the bolt and then the D bracket on the shock. If the bolt is froze to the metal sleave inside the rubber bushing and not the shock nut you will need new shock to LCA bushings. I bought mine form nipponpower.com for like $32.00 for ES bushings. Nowyou need to tear the rubber away from the metal sleave, i did this by rotating the lca back and forth untill the rubber gave way. Once you've accomplished that you will be able to pull the LCA away from the shock. Now you will have a metal sleave that goes around the bushing that needs to come out in order to install the new bushings. Since i don't have a press to press them out i used a hacksaw blade and cut a slit all the way through the metal sleave. That relieved the pressure and i was then able to tap them out with a screwdriver and hammer. Next install the bushing per instructions and mount to car.


[Modified by mantic6t9, 5:09 AM 3/22/2002]

Plan B

Well, i've never encountered a problem like this. I've only seen the welded on nut on the shock break one time. Also, i'm from down south, where we don't have snow, hence, our cars do not drag through salt. Also, i almost always use air-tools. The Air Compressor is the gift that keeps on giving.

vntperformance

Man.,

I had the same fu**ing problem! On my brother-in-law's 94 Gs-R, we installed KYB AGX & GC Coilovers all around, and the damn lower bolt on the strut was rusted on, we tried everything...hand tools, breaker bar, liquid wrench, at the end, we went to the dealer and bought (2) new LCA's for 62.22 each, and cut the lower-half of the strut off...man was that a pain, took at least 6hrs...man soak that **** with liquid wrench or wd40 the day and night before! or else ur sure as hell gonna be cursing!

good luck.
vnt