I was going to put my coilovers on today, and when I tried to remove the bolt that holds the actual shock to LCA, it was so frozen and after going at it for a while the head of the bolt just snapped off. I wasn't too mad because after reading here on HT I knew it might happen. So I had to drive home like so (unsafe). I was just wondering... what would I do to get that bolt out of between the LCA and shock? lol i called midas and they said to remove bolts will cost me $77.00 an hour. and even though its not nearly an hour job, they will make it an hour job and probably longer.

 

Perhaps a magnet, screwdriver, and possibly a coil spreader would do.

 

omg 77$ to remove a bolt..
If the head of the bolt is snapped off, then just the neck of the bolt is still stuck on the lca right. So if thats the case just take a screwdriver and hammer and hammer the thing out until the bolt pops out.

 

yeah, i was doing that but it wasnt moving, because the nut is still attached on the other side. Im going to try heatin the nut then loosening it, then pounding the rest of the bolt out. PB blaster helped alot on the other bolts, but on this it seems impossible. But its okay I guess, nothing i've done so far with this car has been smooth anyway, all these problems. my integra can go to hell lol

 

cut it off. ive had to use a hacksaw and i borrowed my friends cutting tool. i bent my oe shock to hell after i cut the bolt..

 

get a dremel, and cut that nut off, then pound the rest of the LCA out...or if you dont want to save the strut just cut that part right off with a sawzall or dremel

 

just get a good bit for going through metal, then put it in an electric drill. Make sure the bit is smaller than the hole, and then carefully drill the bolt directly in the middle, if you have any luck it should go through the center of the bolt that's stuck inside and crack the bolt into pieces inside. Then it's just as simple as getting the little pieces out... that's what i did when i broke one of the bolts that hold my stock seats it, and it worked very well, only take a couple of minutes too! Good luck with it!

 

i'll try all of that, but im trying to save the shock and LCA so I want to be very careful with what I do.

 

cut the stock strut off (unless you're reusing, then you'll have to figure something out) by cutting the brackets that mount it to the LCA. take the LCA completly out of the car. go to acura and get a new bushing and new bolt. take the LCA to the shop at acura and ask them if they can simply press the old bushing out and the new one in. then take it back to your car and re-install. parts will cost about $20-$25. if the dealer wants to charge any labor (i'd be suprised if they did) i'd take it to somewhere like a machine shop, they'll only charge a couple bucks (charged me $6 dollars once, the other times i did it they didn't charge me at all.)

 

i know the pain ur going through bro. i had the same thing happen to me when i was do n my spring/strut install. the bolt is frozen/rusted shut in the LCA's bushing. u gotta take the whole LCA off. Sometimes the other bolt on the LCA (close to/under the brake disc on the LCA is also frozen. this was the case for me)
To get the LCA off, ur gonna need a saw zaw or cutoff tool (cutoff tool will probably work better) to cut off the other side of the bolt. once u cut the bolt off, take out the LCA. ur gonna have to press out the old bushing and press n a new one. if u dont wanna pay to get it pressed in/out, do what i did. get one of those butane torches and melt out the old rubber bushing. Put the LCA onto a vice grip (have the vice grip holding onto the bushing). keep melting the bushing while turn n the LCA. with some work, the old bushing will come off. now take a saw zaw and cut off the old casing from the bushing(becuz it will still be inside the LCA).. once u make a cut in the casing, use a chisel to chisel out the casing. to press in a new bushing, spray the inside of the LCA and the outside of the bushing with some WD-40. now use the vice to press in the new busing.

hope that helps. this is the worst part about puting in new shocks/springs in a integra or civic.

 

I misunderstood your original post. I haven't done this particular bolt removal before, but is the bolt actually threaded into the LCA bracket? If not, you may be able to loosen the shank from the LCA by heating the bracket with a torch Provided rubber is not in close proximity). You could then use a drift to drive the bolt out.

 

it's almost impossible to drive that bolt off. it's frozen inside the collar in the bushing. due to driving in the rain/snow, the bolt got rusted inside of the bushing and is stuck in there. your gonna have to remove the whole LCA bushing. the way i did it was melting the old rubber bushing then cutting off the metal casing of the bushing. then u press n a new one into the LCA

 

we all have went through this hell with the damn bolt. An air chizel worked mint for me...saved the bushing, strut, and LCA. it popped right out. OH BTW me and my boys tried everything else, and the air chizel did the trick.

Please dont use a torch...

lemme know how you made out...

 

i will try an air chizzle and tell you what happens

 

get a balljoint press ..i had the same problem.got both bushings out and installed new energy suspension bushings. this saved me alot of money because i didnt have to remove the lca.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jweezy225 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i will try an air chizzle and tell you what happens</TD></TR></TABLE>


Im sure if you put the right bit on there, and have a big compressor and put some pb blaster on it or wd-40 youll bust it out.


I was about to give up on popping my shift linkage pin off my transmission, It was seriously kicking my ***... It wouldt dare budge.. I got the air hammer out, and it came out slowly but surely.