Ok so i was going to put my factory springs back on my car for the winter, and we did the front in about 45 minutes no problem what so ever, then we get to the back. It the the rear strut on the driver side of the car and as we go to unscrew the screw keeping the bottom of the strut in place, we cannot move it. We try every trick in the book. you name it we did it to try and get this lose. well we are basically under the car with a 2 foot long pole at the end of the socket wrench torgueing the bolt the get it loose. we are moving the bolt like a mm every 2 clicks of the wrench but as we are noticing as we loosen the bolt we see the rubber fittings in the bottom of the strut turning along with it. Basically long story short we cannot get the strut off the car and i want to know if anyone has any suggestions. Or any knowledge on what the problem my be

 

The metal collar on the inside of the shock bushing is seized to the bolt. There is so much contact area - you will NEVER get this loose. Just went through the same thing (same exact bolt). This is what I had to do (per. Honda):

1: Get bolt and shock bushing from dealership (bolt = $2.00, bushing = $12.00)

2: Get Sawzall

3: Cut the lower control arm bolt on each side - on the inside of the shock mount. You will be cutting through the shock bushing as well.

4: Remove shock.

5: I used a 90 deg. drill and a screw extractor to get the last bit of the bolt out - if your situation is the same as mine was, the bolt threads themselves are not seized and this didn't give me any trouble.

Now the hardest part -

6: Press out the old shock bushing. To do this i had to make a collar to support the 'underside' of the shock out of billet alum. Then I made another piece that was about .050" smaller in diameter than the inside of the shock where the bushing is. It took approx. 8000 psi to press out the old bushing, so don't bother with a vice or hammer, etc...

7: Press in the new bushing.

8: Reassemble.

If I didn't have access to the things I do, I could have never accomplished this in my garage. If you get hung up somewhere, pm me.

 

yeah the thread isent seized so it basically is exactly what you encountered. I was thinking about taking it to a shop and just having them correct the problem but who knows. I might just say expletive it and give it back to acura lowered. However if i do get confident enough ill defiently give this a shot. Thanks again for your reply

 

I got mine out. Screw driver and hammer. Whole car took about 2 hours. If you wanna spend the money then ya, ^^ his plan is a good one.

 

how did u possibly get the bolt out with a hammer and screw driver.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by whiteDCfiver &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I got mine out. Screw driver and hammer. Whole car took about 2 hours. If you wanna spend the money then ya, ^^ his plan is a good one.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Funny. I thought after soaking for days, torching, beating, and impacting this bolt, there was no way it could resist a 3 1/2' breaker bar. It did. Then a few colleagues thought it was funny that I couldn't get a bolt loose, so I invited them to try.... No one could get it. I strongly believe the method I used (the method Honda recommended) was the only way to get this done.

If you can get the shock out, a local shop/dealership could press out the old bushing and press the new one in. That's the hardest part (unless you have a hyrdolic press in your garage). Chopping through the bolt/bushing wasn't bad at all.

rant:
That bolt pissed me off so bad. I started on a Sunday morning on what I thought would be a 3-4 hour job. Didn't drive my car again until the following Sunday. Hondas *shakes head*

good luck.


Modified by gdmfsob069 at 11:59 AM 10/31/2006

 

U have to put pressure on the shock, compress it a lil. Whats keeping it in is pressure of the expanding shock. I pried it up with a screw driver and hammer, when the angle was right i pulled the bolt out with my fingers.

 

no offense, but you have no idea what this is about.

 

BAHAHAHAH fingers ehh.
gdmfsob069:Thanks alot for ur insight

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gdmfsob069 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no offense, but you have no idea what this is about.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I took out a complete Tein and Koni setup and put a stock suspension back in with out using your "honda method" I did it on my own in about 2 hours with basic tools and didnt have to buy any new parts. Ya... i have no idea what im talkin about.

Im not takin any offense, but i know exactly what your talkin about. Its simply a miss communication issue here. I had no problem with it. Im just offering my insight. Sorry if you had trouble with it.

Good luck OP.


Modified by whiteDCfiver at 8:17 PM 11/1/2006


Modified by whiteDCfiver at 8:28 PM 11/1/2006

 

Ok saying you did use your fingers are u sure it was siezed in the rubber housing? but dude i am not even lieing to you when i was basically benching the car to get the bolt to move like seriously move like the thinkness of a hair.