Im trying to remove the my rear struts and spring from the rear of my EK but people are telling me different ways to do it, all of them the nuts and bolts are seized so im goin to bring it to a shop to remove them for me but i want to be sure of shich ones i need to remove.

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some people are saying to remove the upper control arm by removing the bolts form option 1. (and if im supposed to do it this way is the right bolt welded on there? https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1162012 )



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and the other way people are saying for me to do it is to remove the bolt where the lower control arm meets the body remove that bolt and drop it down? but for that bolt on the side facing the front of the car there is a cup shape where the nut is and i cant get in there with a tool to hold it.

i would just like to know which way is easier or wich way is the right way? (all the bolt are seized basicly except the one that hold the strut in place.....

 

I always removed the lower control arm bolt (option 3 I guess) but that's just me.

If you get shorter springs or coilovers you can remove the strut without removing any of the bolts except the ones that hold the strut on.

 

Removing the LCA bolt is necessary, as that holds the shock to the LCA (unless you're swapping in new LCAs, at which point you need to remove the front and rear LCA bolts holding it to the rear trailing arm and body). For the upper "arm" thing, I always go with Option 2. It's tight, but just PB Blaster the hell out of it and use some muscle.

Note: With any rear suspension, usually everything is seized up pretty bad, and you'll most likely break some of/all of the bolts and/or sockets/wrenches you use to mess with them

 

Obviously you have to remove all bolts holding the strut on. I was referring to the outermost of the 3 LCA bolts.

 

Remove option 2. But that will only help after you get out the LCA bolt and the lower strut bolt itself. Also it helps if you disconnect the sway bar end. If the lower control arm to shock bolt is frozen (which happens a lot) then do yourself a big favor and pay someone to put in the new shocks. You will probably have to pay for new LCA bushings or maybe new LCAs but you will be better off then trying to do this yourself. Without a lift, air tools and some experience this job could take you forever and you will probably break something else while doing it. Before you make your car undriveable take it to a reputable shop.

 

Good advice on the end links if he has a sway bar. There was no way in hell I would be able to get my rear struts off without disconnecting the end links on my comptech bar.

I never had trouble with the bolts on my 98 hatchback but it did have really low miles. If you can't get the bolts loose without a cheater bar then I would take the advice to have a shop do it.

 

After removing the lower bolt from the shock to the LCA, I always remove the Option 2 bolt. I used to take out the outermost bolt on the LCA to the trailing arm (Option 3 as mentioned) but it is harder to get aligned and piloted back in properly than the Option 2 bolt under reassembly.

You could also remove the Option 1 bolts from the UCA to the shell but I don't like to in case you somehow get a bolt cross threaded or do it wrong and strip out the elded in nut blind within the shell. Someone here recently had a thread about that bolt being stripped and it was going to be a real pain to fix. Better to not take too many chances with impossible to access nuts if something goes wrong. Option 2 is fast, easy to pilot and give full access if trouble.

 

That's interesting. I never thought that option bolt 2 would eliminate the need to remove the LCA bolt. I'll try it next time.

-alan

 

i like option 2 also cause if somethin goes wrong its not tucked away and going to be impossible to access.


Modified by domgsr at 10:55 AM 3/14/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CRX Lee &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">After removing the lower bolt from the shock to the LCA, I always remove the Option 2 bolt. I used to take out the outermost bolt on the LCA to the trailing arm (Option 3 as mentioned) but it is harder to get aligned and piloted back in properly than the Option 2 bolt under reassembly.

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Yeah, I don't know why I always removed the outermost LCA bolt. I guess it just seamed the most logical when I was doing it sense it was closest.

You're right though, it was a pain in the *** to realign the LCA upon reassembly.