I was switching out the shocks tonight. Fronts went great. Moved on to the rear, the shock bolt came out fine, then....



I almost threw up on the spot. What is my best option here?

97 Civic

 

this is very common on hondas. new lower control arms are the best way to go..

 

What about the rest of the bolt? Drill?

 

knock the nut off the other side (the welded on one). Then source a new nut, use anti seize when putting it back together.

if the bolt is still stuck in the lca you could buy new lca, or you can just get a new bushing which is dirt cheap. id recomend energy suspention, but you can always get a replacement bushing for like 10 bucks for the single bushing. .
or you could always try to drill it. good luck

 

Duh! Thanks, civicsmoke! Should've thought of that. That seems like it would be MUCH easier than drilling/tapping. I should be able to get the bolt out of the LCA if I can get that nut off. I called Honda earlier today to see how much one of those bolts are. $9/bolt....

 

lol on my gsr every bolt in the lca broke except 1 .... the best way is to break the welded star nut lose then hammer and punch the bolt out or like mentioned press the bushing out ... i replaced everything so i just cut the ear off of my rear struts pulled em out then dropped the whole trailing arm and brought brand news ones for the dealer ... boi was that exspensive they cost like 250 each

 

iv had to deal with this too. not very much fun but you can def fix it.

 

Thanks, guys. I guess I must've been lucky thus far, as this is my first one in 10+ years.

The joy continues, as I stripped the allen key trying to remove the top nut! Maybe this is a good excuse to buy an impact wrench. Ha ha.

 

We did that on my friends car, broke the welded nut got new bolt and nut and everything is fine.

I did the same thing on my shock, i was pissed. What i ended up doing was getting vice grips, and put them on the top of the piston, as close to the top hat as i could.
Yes,you will leave marks on the pistons, however hopefully they are high enough to where it wont hurt anything.
My shocks were already blown so i didnt care.

 

if i only had a dime for when ever this would happen.. Man

 

Well, ended up just cutting the shock. The thing was rusted SOLID.

Still having trouble knocking off that welded nut. Took a mini sledge to it, but to no avail. Any tips?

 

I have cut it with a grinder, as well as just beat the crap out it with air tools.
Was a bitch either way.

 

i used an air hammer, but it can be done with a bfh and some good aim.

 

^^ Big ****ing hammer?

 

um best thing for rusted bolts is torch but if you dont have one just remove the whole lca and pull the whole thing off and then cut that nut off the spindle and remove it..

 

Finally got the welded nut off, thanks to dremel. Just for everyone's info, the nut is tack welded on THREE sides, not two (like I thought). One at the very top and two on the sides (imagine a Mercedes symbol over the nut to visualize the placements). Anyway, got the LCA out and after 2 hours of merciless beatings with a 4lb sledge, I gave up trying to get that rusted/seized bolt out. Trip to Honda this morning and problem solved.



Spent more than I wanted, but this should last me a while. At least until I get some better ones (EK9?).

Once again, thanks everyone, for the inputs.

 

what do you mean, better ones?
All 96-00 civics have the same RLCA.

 

I thought EK9 (CTR) LCA's were like ITR's, where they're slightly different with spherical bearings? If not, maybe some F7's.

 

Not to my knowledge. All 92-00 use the fork type, and all 96-00 have exactly the same control arms.

F7 arms are aviable with spherical bearings if you want them.

 

should of used a drill on your old ones and it would of been out.. a touch works wonders..

 

ive honestly never had luck witha tourch on suspension ... he probly would of ended up melting the bushing