Good afternoon,

Before I begin, let me say that I am quite well versed in suspension installs, but for the life of me, I can't figure this one out. No other car I've worked on is this difficult.

EDIT: 2001 Civic DX sedan w/150K miles (i.e.: most parts are heavily rusted )

I have the shock/strut assembly out of the car and I have the top bolt off (assembly is held fast by a strut compressor). However, I can't get the top "hat" off. Is there some sort of C-clip or some sort of retaining piece that is keeping the damn thing in there?

In the diagram below, it is #8 (#10 is still attached to #8).



Thanks in advance, and have a good weekend.

EDIT: Here is a better pic I found in the sticky on top

Below, the pieces I can't remove from the assembly are mainly #10 (or is it 11?) I assume 9, 7, and 2 are part of it too. They should all slide off, right?

 

You need to compress the the spring and then remove the tophat. i forgot exatly how but i think it just unscrews from the shock. Shouldent be to hard i took mine off my stock ones a while ago. If you want new ones i have a set of all 4 (2 front 2 back) for 45 plus shipping. dident need them when i put my coilovers on as mine were still in good condition.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vermont &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You need to compress the the spring and then remove the tophat. i forgot exatly how but i think it just unscrews from the shock. Shouldent be to hard i took mine off my stock ones a while ago. If you want new ones i have a set of all 4 (2 front 2 back) for 45 plus shipping. dident need them when i put my coilovers on as mine were still in good condition.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for the response. I have them compressed all the way already, and there is actually slack in the system. The top hat just doesn't come off. Looking at the diagram and visually inspecting it, doesn't show anything that will restrain it. Hmm, strange.

Thanks for the offer, I already have a new set of KYBs that I'm throwing on.

 

Personally, I would leave the top hat bolt on, then release the pressure on the spring, mount the original assembly back into the mounting location, and slowly un-screw the top hat bolt that way. You'll use the natural force of the spring, to separate the spring from the top hat. I did this just yesterday on ajgrosch716's EM2. Took all of an hour to have the fronts swapped. I'll let him spill the beans on the details, though.

 

do what toyomatt84
said it seems way easier. this was my first suspension modding project but it was easy. i was pretty drugged up too from getting my wisdom teeth out. lol. good luck on the back strut bolts. we could not get them off for the life of us. i have to take it in monday to the shop to have them put the backs on.

 

In what way would they not come off? the bottem bolt of the shock? i had the same problem geting everything to work right. It was me and 2 other guys. One of them had allready 2 sets of coilovers before so it dident take to long for us.

Odd that the top hats are so hard for you. Mine came off real easy.

 

Thanks for all your replies, but perhaps I didn't explain it correctly. The entire assembly is out of the car. The top 14mm nut is off of the tower and as with other vehicles I've worked on, the top hat should just slide off. Yes, the spring is compressed with my compressor.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by toyomatt84 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Personally, I would leave the top hat bolt on, then release the pressure on the spring, mount the original assembly back into the mounting location, and slowly un-screw the top hat bolt that way. You'll use the natural force of the spring, to separate the spring from the top hat. I did this just yesterday on ajgrosch716's EM2. Took all of an hour to have the fronts swapped. I'll let him spill the beans on the details, though. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep, everything is already unscrewed/unbolted. Not sure why the top hat isn't coming off. I can spin it and it just won't come off. Rusted on, maybe?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ajgrosch716 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do what toyomatt84
said it seems way easier. this was my first suspension modding project but it was easy. i was pretty drugged up too from getting my wisdom teeth out. lol. good luck on the back strut bolts. we could not get them off for the life of us. i have to take it in monday to the shop to have them put the backs on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I might have to do this, but the car is a beater car and is barely worth spending the couple hundred they would charge to do this. Hmm.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vermont &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">In what way would they not come off? the bottem bolt of the shock? i had the same problem geting everything to work right. It was me and 2 other guys. One of them had allready 2 sets of coilovers before so it dident take to long for us.

Odd that the top hats are so hard for you. Mine came off real easy. </TD></TR></TABLE>

If you look at my 2nd diagram on my initial post, parts #2, 7, 9, and 10 (or maybe it's 11) are stuck to the shock/strut shaft. The top bolt (#15) is already off. Shouldn't it all just slide off?

Thanks for all your help!

 

Bump.

Help please. I'm about to give up, and it's going to cost $150 to tow it to the repair shop less than 1 mile away. I can't even get the assembly back in in it's current condition (i.e.: tires can't be put on, tie rod not connected, etc).

 

it sounds like if the rust is bad then those parts you mentioned are rusted on. when i switched to coilovers i replaced the bearing that sits right there because it busted apart when i pulled them off. i think each side runs about $36 for the whole top hat assembly per side. so id bust the old ones off and put new ones on. hope this helps some

EDIT: it should just slide off if everything was doing what its supposed to


Modified by daddy2be at 12:06 PM 8/17/2007

 

do what toyomatt84 said to do, that'll take care of it. You just need to use the spring to push it off.

put the top nut back on a few turns, release the tension in the spring, then take the top nut off and the spring itself will pop the hat off. if it still won't pop off with the spring putting pressure on it, bang it with a rubber mallet, you just need to shock it to get it to pop.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by daddy2be &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">it sounds like if the rust is bad then those parts you mentioned are rusted on. when i switched to coilovers i replaced the bearing that sits right there because it busted apart when i pulled them off. i think each side runs about $56 for the whole top hat assembly per side. so id bust the old ones off and put new ones on. hope this helps some

EDIT: it should just slide off if everything was doing what its supposed to</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks, I may run over to Honda and pick up 2 top hats. It'll save me the money of having it towed and worked on. This is one of the main reason I dislike working on cars. Such a simple project becomes a week long affair because of some stupid rust and busted bolts.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mucter &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do what toyomatt84 said to do, that'll take care of it. You just need to use the spring to push it off.

put the top nut back on a few turns, release the tension in the spring, then take the top nut off and the spring itself will pop the hat off. if it still won't pop off with the spring putting pressure on it, bang it with a rubber mallet, you just need to shock it to get it to pop.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Unfortunately the tension in the springs don't pop the hat off. In fact, there isn't much tension on the stock assembly. I can compress the springs about an inch with just one hand. Plus I was beating the hell out of the top hat with a mallet too.

Thanks all! I will try again when I return home from work. And as soon as I get this stupid Civic out of the driveway, I can install my new suspension for my S2000.

 

The top hats cost 60 dollars for both of them. or thats what you should pay. If they end up costing more than 30 dollars a piece send me an email at vermont_sc@hotmail.com or post up here and i will send you mine for dirt cheep. I also have all 4 top hats so you can get all new ones. Don't waste a crap load of money on stuff from Honda dealerships. All the parts departments i have gone to just try and ream you for every penny you have.

Good luck on those bolts. For some reason the bolts and nuts Honda puts on their cars are just way to soft. I tried splitting one and i ended up just mangling the bolt all to hell.

Edit: Im pretty sure your gonna need a camber kit. if you do i have 2 extra. Long story but lets just say its best to buy the right parts for the right year. Then pro civic gave me an extra one i think by accident so i have an extra 04-05 camber kit and an extra 01-03 camber kit. both dirt cheep.

 

How much you want for the 01-03. Send me an email. cherrynutz11x@yahoo.com