Me and my buddies were tryin to instal my springs last nite...fronts were done simple as hell..HOWEVER...my read driverside wheel gave us heck. he bolt was tight as hell...any ideas on how to loosen it up without breakin the bolt off???

We tried using WD-40 already....didn't help...plus my compressor at home wasn't very strong...only 90psi...

I was told of heating up the bolt up....and it would loosen up a bit...but be careful of the bushings...

help...anybody???

we're continuing on Tuesday(June 3) night so help b4 then would be greatly appreciated.

Thanx.

 

I've never had a problem taking off any lug nut or lower control arm bolts using my 18" breaker bar..sometimes I'll use a pipe as an extension to it.. but most of the time I won't/don't have to.. I don't have the luxury of power/air tools = (..

 

I'm just afraid of breakin th bolt off....we tried using a breaker bar...but didn't push hard....too scared at tthe time.

 

I tried to do my shocks this weekend and I broke off both my lower shock bolts. What a pain in the ***. I decided I was just gonna take off my lower control arms and get new ones since I had burned the bushing out and I couldn't get the ring out. Well one of the outer pivot bolts was frozen. We tried using Liquid Wrech and letting it soak overnight and that didn't help much. What we ended up doing was getting a torch and heating the bolt up. Once it was good and hot we took the impact wrench to it and alternated between tightening and loosening. Eventually it broke loose. Wish I had tried that before I broke my lower shock bolts

Just make sure you have a strong impact wrench not one of those tiny 3/8" butterfly ones. I've got a 1/2" 350lb/ft craftsman that works pretty good.

 

i dont think i've ever broken a bolt or lug nut..even on older cars like 1990 Accords where the bolts had a few years to seize or whatever... after soaking the bolts in a good penetrating lubricant... what I usually do when I'm using the breaker bar is.. one hand holds the breaker bar at the top of the bar where the socket and bolt are..and I kind of support it by pressing inward and apply an upward motion... as I press down hard on the end of the bar to break it free... I know a lot of friends who have broken the heads off bolts because they just slip the socket onto the bolt and use both hands and press down hard on the bar or worse yet jump on it.. this creates a lot of downward force on the head of the bolt.. and either snaps it or breaks it loose...

 

take crafts man screwdriver without screw bit.

use as chisel. take hammer and hammer the bolt out.

 

Don't need no stinkin' air tools.....electric impact wrench for like $50 from Harbor Freight.

 

isnt that thing 12V? at least the one I saw in the catalog they sent me... what would you power it w/.. like an inverter that plugs into the wall outlet that outputs 12V? wouldnt it drain the car battery if you plugged it into the cigg lighter and went away w/ the impact wrench? I've also heard they aren't very strong/powerful... oh wellz I've never had an electric impact wrench so I really don't know.. my 18" breaker bar has served me well...

 

back when I was working at ford I had a 1/4" makita cordless impact driver, that thing would take off lug nuts

makita pwnz

http://www.makita.com/Cordless_Item_View.asp?id=71

 

I was trying to get that bolt off last weekend too. Damn thing is a bitch. I used liquid wrench, a torch and a 3ft breaker bar. The damn bar broke my 14mm. Snap-On socket

Next: A friends air tools on wednesday! Die bolt!

 

it would be easyer to remove the whole LCA 9times out of 10 the other two bolts will come out with out too much trubble

 

yeah, but what about the abs wire? its stuck in there.

 

i still haven't figured out if it is a lug nut?

if so, just pick up a new stud and lug nut from acura and break off the old one, not more than $5 for both.

use a hammer to knock out the rest of the stud from the hub and stick in the new one. a lot shorter time frame than trying to save this one

heh, I used to do that when i was working at ford, if one of the lug nuts didn't want to come off I would just go put a stud and lug nut on my credit and break it off. no harm, no foul, easy to replace.

 

nah...the nut is attached to the shock...oh and the bolt? $10.25 from Acura

 

$0.95 at pepboys.

 

they have the same bolt at pepboys? or you just got a normal one thats completely threaded?

 

I believe they ahve the same one at pepboys or autozone. Only the last 1.5" or so is threaded.

 

They're exactly like the OEM ones. The only difference is that the pepboys are black.

 

do you drive a gsr? I ran into this problem with mine, I guess it is a frequent occurance. I had to have mine cut off, pain in the *** and had to replace the bushings. good luck

 

It's not a symptom specific on GSR's only. Its a symptom all older Integras have.

 

its not a symptom of just GSRs or integras... all cars (especially ones a couple yrs old) can have stuck bolts and LCA bolts..

 

heating the bolt up will loosen it...but like you said just be careful with the bushing.

 

Dude i just had the same exact problem and it was a bitch. I had to replace the lower control arm and break out the bolt, i got both my LCA's in the rear for 60 bucks.

 

Man, the same thing happened to me! Luckily, the first spring we tried to install was the rear driver's side. The PoS wouldn't budge! We had airtools too. I don't want to break it, but if it's only a dollar at pepboys, it might be worth it. So if it breaks, all I need to do is buy one from pepboys, but it in and I'll be alright? Also maybe the fact that my car originally came from Wisconsin doesn't help. Damn rust.
BTW, what size bolts and what are bushings..thanks!


[Modified by Integra_Nguyen, 8:55 PM 6/14/2002]