I just got my springs for my car and decided to put them on. We managed to break both the bolts in the rear bushing so far. We finally decided to cut the other side of the shock to loosen to welded nut on the shock. We broke that side of the bolt off too. Frustrated I am, I decided to cut the both shock's joints off and pulled the whole unit off.

Now I'm stuck with with two rear LCA that has a ***** of a bolt sticking out on both ends of the busing. These guys literally rusted onto the bushing. I like to call it nature's welding of metals. Smacking them with a sledge hammer wont work.

Anyone know of a way to get these things off besides getting new LCA's? Also, we cant get new LCA's since one of the bolt broke off, holding the LCA to the swing-arm. JUST MY LUCK.

Any help? I'm low on cash too

I also need some suggestion before I end up doing the same thing for the front. What to buy to eat up the rust and how to deal with them.

 

Either new LCAs or bushing for your stock ones, you'll have to burn the bolt/bushing out.

The front shouldn't have any issues, you don't mess with any bushings like the rear.

 

the bold part, weld that side on, or you'll be sorry. it's a scary thing when your driving and your rear end drops.

only thing i can say is to soak it in PB Blaster. and i mean soak it. literally. use a can on each side. let it soak for a day. then use a punch and hammer it out.

other way to do it is torch the bushing out, take the metal piece that is holding what ever is left of your bolt and cut that in the metal length wise with a cutting wheel. use a punch, PB, and a hammer. it'll come out. just re-weld the cut, or not( i didn't when i did it). get two new bolts/nuts some anti seize and your good to go.

 

you want part 24 - 52622-SK7-A02

AND



and part 19 - 90172-SK7-A01

 

The local import speed shop (Adrenline Motorsports, 636 477 9363) removed both rear LCAs after one of their competitors broke my bolts and tried to send me to the Acura dealer, for $500 in parts.
The replacement parts at teh import shop were $45, they said that this was common.

Then there was the $100 for towing 16 miles.

I am in St Louis, MO

 

Punch out whats left of the bolts with a punch and hammer, you can take the lca's to a press and press the bushings out, or try and torch 'em out. Should be able to pick up the bolts at a local hardware stoe if your in a pinch, just make sure to anti seize thenm so it doesnt happen next time. Order bushing from the dealer, the should be able to get them next day, or order aftermarket poly ones and they slide right in.

 

Your dealer is a rip off. those 4 parts right there don't top 50 bucks. and those are from Acura. Don't go to a dealer unarmed with information. They will rip you off in a minute.

2% rule. dont do anything if you are not 2% smarter than what you are working with.

 

same thing happened to me.
Get energy suspension bushings on stock LCA's and call it a day.

 

We finally got both rear LCA's out of the car at 8pm tonight PST.

Here's the report on the progress so far:

1.) Didn't felt like buying blox LCA's since there's no mounting bracket for the sway bars. Plus, the sway and LCA bushings will wear out if I stick with the stock sway bar. Plus, no mounting holes for the ABS lines to sit on.
2.) Bought Energies from a local import shop. They were $45 as opposed to autozone's $35. Had to get them at that price since time isn't on my side.
3.) Remember the one LCA which had a broken bolt holding the swing arm? Well, we literally wasted 6hrs drilling bigger and bigger holes until the bolt finally broke off. The screw-end side twisted off with little effort afterwards. That nature's weld sealed the bolt tightly onto the bushing. A very important note: the rusted part of the bolt still remains in the bushing after the LCA came off. This is what happens when your car's first few years of getting out of production is to live in the beach with sand and ocean air.

Tomorrow's work:
1.) Going to send both LCA's to the shop to have them machine them out and then new one's on. Can't do the torch thing as it takes too much time and the amount of force required to push the stuff together is far more than the bare hands can do.
2.) Before I put everything back together, all 4 holes remaining on the rear LCA's are going to get bored out a little to eliminate the rusts. Then seal the place up with grease to prevent water and air to create the rust.
3.) Gotta get me some replacement bolts for almost all 4 since they're getting close to sticking. They already have rust building on each of them.


Hopefully the fronts are not rusted onto the LCA too.

PS>you cannot sledge-hammer the bolt out of the bushing. That thing is literally welded shut by the rust. Even tried to torch and hammer trick and it failed miserably. My bro did manage to torch the metal part out of one bushing.

 

Who's thought a 2hr project turned into a 3 day nightmare.

Estimated about 80 bucks total when I'm done with the rear LCA's. Gotta borrow money Need the car up and running before the house inspection comes on Monday. Cant have a car sitting on stand jacks.

List of donators :D
Mom (house inspectors coming), Older Brother (project motivator), Older Sister (blocking garage space), and my retirement fund LMAO!!

 

You're right about front struts. The bolts come right out but they still show signs of rust building up. But they came right out when hammered.

The car's done. LCA bushing and installation cost $79.

Now I gotta deal with ordering new camber kits for the front. It really looks like a circuit car in terms of cambering to the front. I'm going to leave the rear alone for turning purposes.

It's better to spend $70 for a new set of camber joints than to pay another $300 for a new set of tires.