im just wondering if this is for my civic only.

i was trying to remove my rear struts to replace em with the coilovers. I just found out that the bolt was apparently welded with the struts. the welding is not too much just a tiny bit on 2 spots. but it makes it impossible for me to remove them with my wrench. i broke about 3 wrenches and then i found out that they are darn welded.

are all 5g civic rear struts like this? i supposed not. i was able to remove the front struts with ease. and yeah i did the penetrating oil and wd-40 thingy 1 day before.

tnx

 

um, theres a nut thats welded to the arm, the other side is the bolt side... you sure youre wrenching the right side?

ive heard a lot of ppl having trouble with the rear lower arm bolts tho. its nothing my 12" breaker bar and maybe a cheater bar couldnt handle.

 

actually the bolt is welded to the bottom of the rear struts. the inverse "U" shape of the struts. i am sure they are welded in 2 spots coz i look into it closely. it's just so odd this is so. i mean why would they do that. this is the same welding i have on the ex headrest. they welded it too.

and yeah i'm doin the right side. also the size of the bolt is 19mm. i thought they are like 17mm and the nut is 14mm.

i will prolly bring this to a welding shop or something.

 

Do you have a way to post a picture of this? I would really like to see it.

 

Tyson is correct, the nut is welded on by the factory and the bolt comes through and meets it but is not welded. The nut is welded to the forward side of the car and the bolt comes in from the rear. They are very notorious for rusting and getting stuck and Honda's redesign of that bolt was of little use. Some heat, some penetrating oil, a breaker bar and some wiggleing will usually get it out and some anti-seize on the threads when reinstalling will help you the next time the bolt comes out.

 

i'll certainly will. iam up to the welding shop tomm 9am. i gave up on the rear struts already. i read that if you forced it, it will break something in that area.

i tried hacksaw btw, just to get rid of that weld but it ain't workin.

the front struts was a cakewalk compare to the rear imo.

 

i brought the car to 2 auto shops and they can't remove the nut/bolt on the lower part of the rear struts. they practically did everything, torch, power tools, penetrating liquid...etc. the bolts will not move even a tiny bit.

they are hard as a rock. man....i can't believed it. they are full blown muffler and auto shop.

looks like i need to torch out the bolt to remove them. prolly the only way.

 

If you can get that nut off on the "forward" side of the shock, you can try hammering out the bolt. There are no threads inside the bushing, so don't worry about damaging the threads. Usually the bolt rusts solid to the inside of the bushing (this sounds like your problem). Unless, of course, the head of the bolt really is welded to the shock too. But then you have a totally different problem...

 

Yayyyyy.....this tire shop were able to crack them up bolt. they have this huge bolt cracker and it gave in after a while.

well i had about 4 auto shops that tried to crack them. i am on my way to the junkyard and i'm about to pickup stock LCAs. i am planning on replacing the whole control arm if everything comes down the drain.

i'm glad i will be able to complete the rear install....

thanks guys

 

Mine were the same way. I just replaced my lca's with TC Sportline LCA's. But, My friend drilled his out... it takes awhile.

 

Get all new LCA bolts & give the whole bolt (except the hex head) a coat of anti-sieze goo before reassembly...

 

yeah...im putting anti-seize everywhere.

and it's official, i remove mynut and it was welded on 2 spots of the rear struts. man why would honda do that. no wonder it took the whole town to remove that nut


Modified by apm at 2:02 PM 1/27/2005

 

I've seen literally about a hundred rear struts and I've never seen one welded.. I just wanted to clarify... What happens is the bolt seizes to the bushing on the inside, so the only way to remove it is to cut the bolt and replace the bushing. I've seen this on so many cars, it's definetly a SERIOUS pita. No way to get around it, glad you got it all fixed.

-Mike

 

This is what my shocks (and most likely anyone's) looked like when I was done with them :



Canadian winters

 

i only removed the nut but not the bolt...correction


Modified by apm at 2:04 PM 1/27/2005

 

Normally they have a problem being seized inside from rust. Never seen them welded. Ive had a bunch that were seized inside, ended up snapping the bolt. From there you can cut the bottom fork of the shock off to remove it. Impact wrench is STRONGLY reccomended. Havent snapped any with an impact.

 

I'm a little confused. Yeah, the nut is welded to the shock, but you just loosen the bolt and it comes out (unless it's rusted in there). I'm really not sure why you needed to break the nut to get the bolt out tho???

See, the nut is part of the shock, and the bolt (#17) is removed from the other side:

 

im going through this excat same thing right now!!! this ******* sucks and I dont know what todo

 

Angle grind the lower fork off if you're replacing the shock.

 

but im not reaplancing them. unless 97 teg struts fit my 96 hatch

 

you dont have to ruin your stock shocks like that, all your have to do is get a torch, and burn out the bolt in the middle and the bushing..

 

Torching the fork could ruin it anyways. And it will ruin the bushing for sure. If youre lowering the car replacement of the shocks is highly reccomended anyway. Old stock shocks wont be able to handle stiffer shorter srpings for very long.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KOALA YUMMIES &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Torching the fork could ruin it anyways. And it will ruin the bushing for sure. If youre lowering the car replacement of the shocks is highly reccomended anyway. Old stock shocks wont be able to handle stiffer shorter srpings for very long. </TD></TR></TABLE>
yeah, but some of us dont have a LOT of cash, and have to sacrifice ride comfort just be be low, cause we are gansta like that , i had my stock shocks for over a year lowered 2.5 inches, and only 1 blew, and then went to AGX's it was great.

 

I rode around for 5 years at -2.5" and never blew one OEM shock (GC 400f/250r). Streets here in vegas are in pretty good shape though...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94eg! &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I rode around for 5 years at -2.5" and never blew one OEM shock (GC 400f/250r). Streets here in vegas are in pretty good shape though...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I drove for about 2 weeks on stock shocks with Eibach pro kits and one blew. Go figure. I think I was just unlucky tho .