i know you all had this problem when tryin to remove the rear cross arm for lowering your car or whatever. i need to get this bolts off to install my shocks/struts and springs. whats the best approach? cutting them? i dont want to buy a new arm and wait for it to be sent!

 

search!
this has been addresses every other week for the past few years


lower control arm aka LCA

 

that mothr fcking bolt! happened to me also. i ended up just buying a new lower control arm, but what i did in the mean time was i drilled through the bolt but for some reason it didnt crack or break so i just used a smaller bolt and put it through the lca and it worked fine for 2 weeks til i got my new lca. sorry i couldnt help

 

shocks just arrived!!! im cuttin that damn bolt off!

 

My favorite procedure for getting LCA bolts from the shock off stock Honda assemblies:

1. Soak area in WD-40 or PB-Blaster for several days.
2. Try to remove bolt
3. Cuss
4. Soak for another day or so
5. Break head of bolt off anyway
6. Use hacksaw to saw bolt between LCA and shock fork (front and back)
7. Marvel at the fact that Honda put LOC-TITE on at the factory on the back threads (as if that MF would ever come out by itself)
8. Marvel at middle of bolt seized in the LCA bushing
9. Puzzle at how you're going to tackle that
10. Buy 10 ton press
11. Buy polyurethane shock bushings
12. Remove LCA
13. Marvel at the fact that the OTHER two bolts look rusted as crap but they came right out without any fuss
14. Try to use 10 ton press to press out stock Honda bushing
15. Laugh at fact that 10 ton press BENDS under strain of this bushing
16. Return broken 10 ton press to Northern tool to trade in on 20 ton press
17. Spend an hour assembling 20 ton press
18. Try to press out bushing with 20 ton press. Stop because the horrible creaking noises make you think the press is going to explode
19. Burn out bushing middle with torch
20. Use hacksaw to score the edge of the bushing shell (CAREFUL, if you cut too far, you cut into the LCA)
21. Drive out bushing shell with hammer and a drift
22. Notice scratches in LCA from hammering and cutting. Think "SCREW 'EM"
23. Try to get greased polyurethane bushings into LCA
24. After getting frustrated, relize there is a use for that 20 ton press you have now.
25. Use 20 ton press to press in polyurethane bushings
26. Replace shock
27. Replace LCA
28. Realize that you sawed the shock bolt into three pieces
29. Go to Honda and ask for new shock bolt. Despite the fact that they get this request EVERY OTHER DAY, they don't stock these bolts. Order a pair overnight ($8 a bolt)
30. Get temporary bolt from NAPA
31. Bolt shock with NAPA bolt. Worry incessantly that the bolt didn't look as beefy as the Honda one (even though it's the same grade)
32. When the Honda ones come in, almost hurt yourself getting the Honda bolts in.
33. Laugh at manual that suggests placing Loc-tite on the threads for replacing this bolt
34. Put anti-seize inside the bushing sleeve to avoid this problem again.
35. Think REAL HARD about putting anti-seize on shock nut.
36. Forego that stupid idea because of the danger of back out
37. Pray to god that those new Koni's you got never need replacing.

Shawn

 

you just made me laugh out loude haha

 

My pleasure. Can you tell that I've done this?

Shawn

 

your scaring me man....so it isnt easy at all? i cant just cut it off? should i just have a shop do it? or buy a new Cross arm?

 

It's not that hard. You will need to replace the bushing though. That screw commonly seizes to the bushing. You can cut it off. There are just nuances in my story about somebody doing it the first time and not having anybody help him out with experience.

Shawn

 

You could try to drill it if youre one really perisisant ***** like I am
1. Cut with sawzall between shock and bushing collar on either side.
2. Use shock as guide to keep it straight.
3. Drill for 4 hours and kill your shiny Ryobi VSR drill. DAMNIT.
4.
5. Bolt it all back up.

ALSO, if your LCA will come off, ie the bolts at the subframe and the bolt at the hub/trailing arm will come off then just drop the spring/shock assembly while still attached to the LCA. Drop out the LCA and the shock all at once. Thats what I had to do on my pass side on my Civic, Drivers side had frozen hub and shock bolts so I had to drill. On my integra, broke the bolt, didnt drill straight, replaced whole LCA.

Cliff notes: READ THIS HONDA ENGINEERS- REDESIGN THE BOLT OR PUT SOME DAMN ANTI SEIZE IN THERE! MY 81 CJ-7 HAS BOLTS THAT LOOSEN EASIER.

ahhh vent
jim

 

hahaha! Hilarious! Been there, done that....except I never moved up to the 20 ton press.

 

Two words - Air gun!!!!!

Have tried the socket wrench/breaker bar routine with cheater pipe - has resulted in rounded off bolt heads, busted knuckles, and lots of colorful metphors - air wrench and a box end wrench - one or two hits and it comes right off.

how do I know - two civics - two sets of struts - learned on the first one for the second one!!! - Sorry, more than two words!

 

LOL!!!!! Man, you hit that nail on the F'in head! THATS the proceedure. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Mike

 

The only problem with this is it doesn't help if the bolt head breaks off. This is what most commonly happens when you apply good torque to this bolt if it has rusted solid to the LCA bushing sleeve. I've broken off two myself, and my friend (who I helped do his) broke his off while I watched (I knew it would happen). So, while your advice is well taken, it wouldn't help most people.

Shawn

 

In my case, it was the air gun that broke the head of the bolt off

Lucky for me, the bolt that was seized was the strut bolt, so we just took out the other two bolts and dropped the whole assembly. Of course, I still had to get new LCA's to do the reinstall.


[Modified by jaysonx, 5:46 PM 9/19/2002]

 

totally agreed, on my wife's civic, (the first one) I ended up taking a LARGE screwdriver with a round shaft - cut the flat head off of it, and then pound on the broken off bolt until I got it out of the LCA bushing! - what a pain in the BUTT - I think I pounded on that thing for 15 or 20 minutes before it came loose. - The air gun principal worked on my civic perfectly though - I did coat the bolt with antisieze before I put the new struts back on.

WHEW!! - glad that is over - for a while any way.

 

AIR GUN DOESN'T WORK!! Haha, I used my Craftsman 650lbs/ft air gun going from forward to reverse then forward to reverse and so on...didn't work. That ******* bolt seized on my girlfriends rear suspension and my friends rear suspension. DAMN YOU HONDA!! Tonight...bustin out the blow torch on that bitch, heat it up like no other! For the people that have been through this already...did you also notice your sanity go out the window, especially when you can hit a bolt for 5 minutes with 150psi air going at a bolt with 650lbs/ft and still doesn't come out...???

 

its welded on man. i think tack welded is the right term. The points of the nut are welded onto the shock. At least mine was. We had to get the dremil out and cut the welds out, then it came out easy.


[Modified by natural, 5:26 AM 9/20/2002]

 

That part we know. The nut is welded onto the shock fork, but the problem is that the bolt that goes into it should come out without having to remove the nut. That's the problem we're tackling.

Shawn