Replacing stock struts/spring/rear lca with tokicos blues/eibach springs/ omni lca's. as usual the strut/lca bolt is seized and the stud is snapped off. also have the 2 new bolts. plan is to remove the whole lca and strut assembly at once, and pop the cap i need off the strut for the strut tower in a wall mounted spring compressor. is it just as common for the other two bolts on the lca to be seized as well as the strut lca bolts? I dont think i can take any more surprises with my suspension, its been weeks that the rear has been at stock height while the front is lowered as i try and try to get the rear suspension completed. any advice on removing the rear lca's will be greatly appreciated and i'll let ya'll kno how it goes when i get back tomorrow night. thanks

 

A lot of people just cut the bolt and get a new one. Sounds like u are on the right track. I'm from CA, no snow! Maybe thats why that isn't common for us.

 

Yup... I'm in Cali too so I had no idea the bolts seize and snap (cuz mine didn't have any hint of that).

You best bet to is soak with WD40 and/or PB blaster and let it sit.

spray
wait 10 min
spray
wait 10 min
etce
etc
etc
THEN loosen the bolts.

The idea is the spray baeks up the rust chemically but you have to keep adding more as it penetrates further.

Also hear that you butane torch the bolt till it's hot (this expands the bolt a bit), then put a wrench on and give a quick hit with a mallet or breaker bar. The thermal expansion and sudden jarring cracks the rusted seals....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chimchimm5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Also hear that you butane torch the bolt till it's hot (this expands the bolt a bit), then put a wrench on and give a quick hit with a mallet or breaker bar. The thermal expansion and sudden jarring cracks the rusted seals....</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats how we snapped the stud off. Heated it and heated it and kept hitting it and it snapped off.

Hopefully I wont run into anymore seized bolts today, thanks for the responses.

 

you never want to heat the bolt. that will make the metals weak and caz them to break. the metals in the suspension is heat treated so when you add too much heat to the it causes the metal to become brittle. hence why your bolt snaped off.

one of the main reasons that the bolts are suck is because they have never been removed from the first time the were put on. unless you have take them off before. so corrosion has set in on the bolt. making them hard to remove.

just hit it with a little wd40 and let it soak in. as for the bolt that snaped you will have to either find away to cut it out or drill it out. there is a bolt remover kit that they sell at auto parts stores.

 

the rear lca's have been succesfully replaced with the omnis and the struts are on. its finally completly lowered. the install was very smooth.

and the stock strut and stock lca are still together.