I was starting to work on replacing my springs and shocks yesterday and we couldn't get the lower control arm bolts out (the ones that go through the bushing at the bottom of the shock mounts). We tried WD40 and all kinds of different arm exentions for the socket wrench and couldn't do a thing. The bushings look fatigued and need to be replaced anyway, so I do plan on removing all 4 and putting in new bolts and bushings. Is there an easier way to remove them besides cutting the bolts, and heating or drilling the bushings until the center sleeve comes free and it loosens up? I'm on a pretty limited time table for doing this, because the shop I will have to bring my lowering springs and shocks to so they can be compressed is only open until 3 on Saturdays. Thanks.

Jason


[Modified by Lude Behavior, 10:15 PM 8/12/2002]

 

Try another rust penetrator and leave it on overnight. There's one called PB (I think) that's pretty good. Do you have a breaker bar? I helped a friend of mine with his lower control arm bolts on an 89 4Runner. Got a nice deep purple bruise on my shoulder from leaning on the brake caliper and cranking on the breaker bar. After a couple of hours of PB penetrant and pulling on the wrench, it eventually came off.

 

well, since you are going to have to go to honda to get new bushings anyway, just pick up the bolts at the same time. you will save yourself a lot of trouble and frustration if you just cut the bolts and get the busings out. which, by the way, having done myself will take you a couple of hours to do. i even had air tools to use and it still took a good half hour per bushing to cut them out. not a fun job. and the pb stuff is called pb blaster. it is the best rust remover out there. however, that will not help on those bolts. you won't be able to get any pb blaster in around the bolts, or at least not enough to break it free. i hope you are putting in better struts as well when you put in the springs. if you don't have new ones, your old ones will not be able to handle the drop for very long. they will wear out pretty quick. you need heavier duty struts with the lowering springs on that car.

 

****, that's what I was afraid of. We did put PB blaster on all of them, and it will have around a week to set before we mess with it again, but I have been and will be driving the car in the meantime so I don't expect it to be fully effective. I am getting all of the replacement bushings and bolts for it. My setup is going to be Eibach Pro Kits for a 1.5" drop, and they will be riding on Tokico blues for shocks. Once you got the inner sleeve for the bolt free did the bushing come out easily? Also, were you able to just pound in the new bushing and have it seat correctly? Those to things probably concern me the most right now. We will have a window of about 6 hours to get those damn things off and bring in my front springs and shocks so that the spring can be mounted to the shock correctly. I don't think my spring compressor or any one from Auto Zone etc will work. I'm doing the suspension work with someone who did his own, and he couldn't find a rental compressor that worked. Maybe it will do for my back springs though, because they aren't as tightly coiled as the front springs. Thanks for your advice guys.

Jason

 

the back springs are just as much of a pain as the front. get them all done by the same person. each bushing has a metal around it as well as the metal in the center where the bolt goes through. in order to get the bushings out i had to use a circular saw and cut through the rubber to get the rubber out. then we used an air hammer to get the metal out. neither one is an easy thing to do. then we had to use the press to get the new bushings back in. you might be able to hammer the new bushings in if you have a heavy enough hammer and a good aim. they need to go in straight. well, good luck with your project.

 

I did almost the same thing on my Accord. I had to hack saw the rear nut off the bolt, then beat the bolt out with a punch & air hammer. I then drilled holes in the rubber seal (close to the outside), beat the bushing out with a hammer, and use an air chisle to remove the outermetal ring. To put the new bushing in I taped it to a socket, that was approx. the same size and hammered it in. Not a fun task, Next time I'll use my buddies new torch and melt it out!

Squid