We have a 94 Accord EX that has a bent lower control arm and thought it shouldn't be too hard to replace after taking a quick look. Right off the bat we run into a MAJOR problem: When trying to remove the flange bolt on the end of the control arm there isn't enough room to pull it out enough to release the control arm because the transmission is in the way! We are almost an inch from being able to remove it completely, but maybe just a half inch shy of letting it release the old control arm. Does anyone out there have any idea of how to get this bolt out without having to raise the transmission? Dang, we were really hoping to get this done tonight because we have an appointment to get it realigned tomorrow morning!! Thx in advance!!

 

IIRC you will have to loosen the engine through bolt.
Remove the rear and front engine mount through bolts.
Remove the trans bolt and raise the drivetrain up a bit just to slide the bolt out.

Not hard, just a few more steps.

Put the front of the car on jack stand so you are not fighting the suspension unloading as you raise the trans. Watch out for wire harness/hoses.

 

Why are you scared to raise the tranny ? Get a jack and put a wooden board on top so the jack doesnt damage the transmission and raise the tranny an inch.

 

Why am I scared to raise the tranny? Fair question, the answer is I have very little experience in wrenching on front wheel drive vehicles and have done just enough mechanic work to know that some things you can "just do" and other things can cause catastrophic damage that ends up ruining not only what you trying to fix in the first place, but lots of additional stuff you had no idea could be adversely affected. I figured it best to ask the "stupid" question and be safe rather than just have at it in ignorance and possibly end up with a much bigger problem or whole set of them.

Although just jacking the tranny up had occurred to me, I had no idea if it would work or if I would be making things worse. Is it really that easy? No disconnecting, loosening, raising, lowering or supporting anything before jacking it up? The tranny will raise a good inch or so freely, allowing me to remove the pivot bolt without causing any other troubles?

 

It should be able to move atleast a half inch up to an inch i suppose.

 

Thx for the help. I figured that someone that has done enough of these would have some 'trick of the trade' learned through experience on how to get this done in the easiest way possible. If you get a moment, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the idea posted right after your response by homesnmanny of just jacking up the tranny. I'm just not so sure 1/2"-1" will be quite enough to get that pivot bolt out, and if that is an option, how high can I jack it up until I know I shouldn't go any higher? I'll respond to his post and see what he thinks along those lines. Thanks again.

 

You suppose? Doesn't really leave me with much of a feeling of confidence in that solution. I don't think half inch to an inch will quite do it...would be close though (and definitely a lot closer than it is as it sits without lifting it at all). Have you done this before and if so, at what point do you know you have jacked it up as far as it can go without causing some kind of damage.

I have downloaded the Honda Accord service manual for this model and ironically it has a couple pages written about the details of replacing the bushings in the lower control arm but makes hardly any mention of detail concerning the removal of it, and certainly nothing about this little complication. Thanks for the post.

 

Thx for the help. I figured that someone that has done enough of these would have some 'trick of the trade' learned through experience on how to get this done in the easiest way possible. If you get a moment, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the idea posted right after your response by homesnmanny of just jacking up the tranny. I'm just not so sure 1/2"-1" will be quite enough to get that pivot bolt out, and if that is an option, how high can I jack it up until I know I shouldn't go any higher? I'll respond to his post and see what he thinks along those lines. Thanks again.

 

Manual case leave a bit more room to clear the bolt.
Automatic not so much, you will need to raise the trans a bit to get that bolt out with an AT car.

 

On my 4th gen i have replaced my lower control with no clearance issues whatsoever so i never have to raise the tranny. You may very well get a few inches movement.

If you jack up the tranny it will simply bottom out and stop raising up when the mounts finally reach their limit. Just go slow and once it stops moving stop jacking it up.

Again, make sure you use a piece of wood in between.

 

This is a good point.
I cannot remember if I removed the mount first to get more clearance. That's Coronas fault.

 

I didn't have an issue with clearance with either transmission on the 4 cylinder models. 94-97.

 

Did you do anything in any particular order to not have clearance issues with that pivot bolt. We've looked at it sitting on the ground...no clearance, we've jacked one side up and looked both with and without the hub assembly jacked back up and hanging after jacking one side of the car up....no clearance. And we've tried jacking both sides up and putting it up on stands, again with and without the hub assemblies jacked back up and unsupported after being put on jacks...in all cases....no clearance to get that pivot bolt out.

I can see what an earlier poster said by having clearance issues with that bolt on auto trans but not manual. We have another Accord with std and it was no problem, but like he said, that passenger side front there's no clearance without doing some moving some stuff around. On the driver's side there's no issues at all, but on the passenger side, I can't see any way of getting around doing a lot more than what we had planned on. So if you've done it and not had the same issue, what steps did you take specifically to not have to either jack the tranny or drop the drive train? Could the difference be in which trim model the accord is? This is an EX with the VTEC.

 

Can you please take pictures ? You may have some severe frame damage.

I think we'd all like to see it.

 

I can, it's just a bit of a hassle since he's still driving the car in the mean time (yeah, just a little extra tire wear on that one side til we get it fixed, and borrowing a shop from a family member causes friction) but I will see what I can do. But it doesn't sound like I'm the only one that has had this issue as Mad Mike said he had to go through some extra steps to change out that arm lower arm with an automatic as well as well. But I'll see if I can take some and get them posted here.

 

I think you have some frame damage. I've removed said bolt on both factory automatic and manual transmissions cars with ZERO issues. Jacked it up, pulled the wheel and other stuff off it, and had plenty of clearance.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if perhaps there is some damage to the K frame. For discussion's sake, let's say it is a possibility, are there certain points I can measure to tell for sure and where could I find them? I talked to a garage I used to have work on any Japanese makes and they have done lots of front end jobs on Honda's. He said that even by examining them closely, it's really hard to tell by looking if it's damaged or where the damage is.

I also know that despite both being 4 cylinders, there is a difference in that front lower control arm between models with the 2.2L VTek and the 2.4L models. Each calls for a different part number.

I'm still working on getting pictures, in the mean time, Anyone know, where I could get measurement points I could use to see if the K frame (cradle) is damaged or not?

 

If you can locate an FSM there will be frame dimensions, and where to measure for square.