They didn't even look rusty but I wasn't having much luck so after soaking overnight in pennetrating oil I grabbed the three foot breaker bar and sheared off the lower shock bolts. I did the 19 mm one first then the 14 mm for good measure. I may have to grind the studs down just to get the shock off.

Questions: 1. Is there anything special agout removing the bolt(s). 2. Do you need to heat the nut? 3. Is the stud part of the lower thrust arm (do I have to replace that too)?

 

yea, the special tool is called a bolt remover. autozone has em.. good tool to have.

i did the same thing on my old g2, busted the head off hte bolt, the rest was lodged/rusted in place. had to get this little bolt removers to pull em out.

 

Cut the bolt I had to do it.

 

If your doing a suspension upgrade, cut the shocks off and replace the LCA's. Easiest way.

 

Yeah that happened to me twice, once on mine and once on my buddies, something about the bolts being overtorqued or something from Honda, they get stuck. You have to cut the shocks off, or cut upwards through the bolt to get the shock off if you want to keep the shocks. The LCAs are ruined either way though, you have to get another one.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dema12co &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah that happened to me twice, once on mine and once on my buddies, something about the bolts being overtorqued or something from Honda, they get stuck. You have to cut the shocks off, or cut upwards through the bolt to get the shock off if you want to keep the shocks. The LCAs are ruined either way though, you have to get another one.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I highly doubt Honda over torques them. ITs more along the liens of hte bushing and the metal sleeve inside the bushing. Basically, the metal sleeve rusts to the bolt and doesnt allow it to spin.

bam, broken bolt.

 

What is the LCA?

 

lower control arm

if you dont know what that is, then id suggest not working on your car

 

It was the same side on both of ours, but now that I think about it mine was bent and his was stuck. But the sleeve wasn't rusted on in either case, the threads were stuck in the LCA, the bolt came right out of the sleeve after I cut through the threaded end.

 

this problem is so common

 

Duh, how could I have missed that? LCA must be a common acronym. And I really should have someone else work on my cars, but I'm too cheap. I want it done right and so many shops don’t care if it’s right or not. I'm also way to dumb to know when to send it to a shop.

Mine bolts are so frozen that even after shearing off the nut, the bolt was stuck enough to shear off instead of turning. I may have a puller to remove the bolt but why not cut the shock off? I'll have to replace the Lower Control Arms anyway. If I change the one, I should change them both, right?

When I changed the timing belt, water pump, rack and pinion unit, power steering hose, brakes, brake fluid, Trans fluid, changed plugs, distributor cap, set valve clearance and replaced the door lock it was all a big pain. I only take it in for alignment and tires. But I'm glad the Honda is so reliable and easy to work on (compared to my other cars).

I also appreciate the help from this site. Thanks again, all of you!

 

Ok this happend to me as well when I was upgrading the suspension on the sol. So here is was I did:

Removed the LCAs from either side of the car with the shock still attached.
After quite awhile of frustration cut the bolt head off the left side(the right side was already wrung off.) *I Tried heating them and it didnt work.*

Set the LCA on a workbench and Started Drilling the Bolt out. This was a major pain in the A$$ but saved me about $100 for new LCAs

The LCAs were able to be reused (Shocks were destroyed in the process of disassembling the shock from spring)

So I was off to Honda to order new Bolts...These things cost about $10 each ... you may find something simlar at a hardware store though. Hope this helps some.

 

What about the condition of the rubber bushing in the LCA? Wouldn't it be sacked after all the years of use? How much are the LCA's? I saw bushings for the ends for sale. Don't you want to renew all the rubber when you do the job?

 

The Rubber on the LCAs was actually in very good condition considering everything else on the car. The LCAs are about $120-160(set) on eBay, I think you could find a set at a junkyard for cheaper probably. I have no idea what they would cost for OEM Honda Parts. When I upgraded the suspension on mine (93 del Sol Si) the CV boots, upper and lower ball joints, and the tie rod ends needed to be replaced. (Anything with grease it seamed) but the rubber for the LCA was fine.

 

couldnt you just cut the bolt head off and press the bolt out? I need to do this on my sol in about a week (replacing the suspension), i think i need all the help i can get....this thread is good.

 

Well, yes and no. The bolt head is sheared (or cut) off but the shock also has a nut welded on the other side of the shock fork. I had to cut the welded nut off of the shock, once this was done the bolt should seem to come out easy. However, the bolt was very rusted and wouldnt come out after hitting it with a 3 pound hammer several times. Began drilling... about halfway through was enough to collapse and punch out the remaining part of the bolt.

I was able to clean up the inside of the LCA with a small circular file. After that i checked the bushings for cracks and wear. took a wire brush to the arms and then painted them back to black. When re-istalling I used some hi-temp grease on the bolts to prevent future rust. Oil would work too but wouldnt stay as long as grease will.

 

Onefast, in my darkest imagination, that was my first thought of the ultimate solution. It almost makes me want to spend the $80 ea. on the arms. They come with all new bushings. I found polyeurathane replacement bushings for $50 ea., it's cheaper than the arm and might tighten up the ride. But it's my wife's car and she wants a stock ride. I think I'm going to try to save the arms and bushings even though the rubber bushings have to be sacked. The old rubber bushings can look okay but they are spongy and if you change them it makes a huge difference, depending on the car and which bushings...

 

Yeah, time was a major factor in my build since I didnt 'plan' on breaking my old bolts. So ordering new LCAs was out of the question at the time. I dont think the poly bushings would affect the ride too much

 

Omnipower and Megan Racing both make control arms that are about $120 shipped.

 

I saw them at Megan Racing (really nice billet aluminum anodized) and they were $149 but they say they are for reduced camber. My car has stock springs and I don't plan to lower it.
I think I am going to try the salvage route (trying to salvage my bushings). I think I'm going to drop the LCAs completely and get them on a bench. It looks like the inner mount is eccentric for alignment and the hub end has a nut welded on. Is there anything to look out for?

 

this happened toe every honda i owned and tried to get the rear suspension off (89 CRX, 93 CX, 92 Si) its sux but what can u do right?

i cut the bolts and in 1 case cut teh shock off to get it off. luckly my moms bf has a cutting torch and we torched the old bushing out with the bolt siezed in there still, went to honda and bout new LCA bushings for like 30 bux a side and pressed them in with washers and a peice or threaded bar and some bolts, worked like a charm. OEM goodness

 

im scared of doing mine now....is it only the bolt that holds the shock fork that freezes or all of them?

 

I'll let you know tonight or tomorrow. I am going to pull the LCAs tonight.
I think it's a bad design or bad materials. I have pulled A-Arms and thrust arms off of older cars that didn't have these problems. Yeah, you might have to beat them out with a sledge but they come out. In this case, what's the worst that can happen? I'll have to buy more parts. This is the first time I have been disappointed by the Honda design.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DeadEnd9009 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im scared of doing mine now....is it only the bolt that holds the shock fork that freezes or all of them?</TD></TR></TABLE>

This was the case for me. Shock was Frozen, but the other two were just fine.

Good luck to both of you!

 

Damn, the bolt on the frame comes out okay but the one on the hub won't budge. I used a 1/2" drive impact and wailed away but nothing. I am afraid to shear this one off. Would it help to heat it with a propane torch? Any advice? If I can't get it off I am going to try to drill the bushing and replace the shock without removing the LCA but it's quite a bite to do it all under the car in my garage.