hey guys, maybe you can help me. I cant seem to get the bolt out of the lower control arm/shock on either side of my hatch. I've tried unscrewing, drilling, and punching it out but its still stuck in there. so my question, what is it exactly thats hold it in? and how should i get it out?

 

what do you mean by drilling? If I remember correctly I just took the nut off and then took a punch and put it on the end and hammered it through. I might be thinking of the front though.. I dont remember too well

do you have the weight off of the rear end? thats kinda a stupid question but I dunno what else it could be

 

It's seized, welcome to the wonderful dark side of Honda bushing design. You have a metal bolt going through a metal bushing in the LCA. Sometimes the bolt will actually rust and seized against the sleeve that's part of the LCA's bushing. You can probably see the threaded part sticking out the other side move but it won't turn to come out.

Sometimes you can get lucky and a lot of penatrating oil, a lot of hammering, some impact gun time, maybe a torch and enough cursing to make a sailor blush will work, but probably not. If not, the head of the bolt is most likely snapped off at this point. The most successful method I found is try to remove the entire LCA/damper/spring assembly (if the LCA/training arm and LCA/body mount bolts aren't seized, it'll work with them on the car, just less comfortable) and find a sawzal. Cut the bushing and the bolt as close to the LCA as possible (on the side with the welded on nut) so after it's cut and the LCA is pulled away, you leave some of the bolt sticking out of the LCA into the center so you have something to grab with vice grips to turn the bolt out. At this point, your stock LCA's are ruined so you either need a another set of stockers or save up for some Energy Suspension urathane bushings to replace them. Honda sells new bolts and they're kinda pricey but I don't really know of any alternatives.

If you do manage to get those bolts off (or your reading this and have an newer car who's bolts haven't seized), stop down at your local parts store and buy a tube of anti-seize. Soak the shaft of the bolt in that stuff before you shove it back through the LCA each time you take them off and you shouldn't ever have a problem.

 

I had to torch mine out w/ an oxy/acetyline torch, then sawzall the ends of the bolt out, then torch some more, then pound out w/ a punch. Ended up melting the bushing to away nothingness and destroying the bottom of the shock.

I hope it goes better for you :happysad:

 

well andy pretty much hit it on the mark... I can see the threaded part sticking out the other side move but it won't turn to come out, and the head of the bolt already snapped. i got the spring/shock/damper assembly out completely by drilling a hole in the shock, depressing the shock, compressing the springs, and lastly cuttin the mounts for the shocks. so now the bolt is just hanging in the LCA's bushing. sucks.

 

I just did this yesterday....take a cutting wheel and cut between the shock and the bushing on both sides so voila all you are holding is the LCA...go to the Stealership...pick up two new bushings...13 bucks a peice...take them to your local parts store and have them press out the old bushings and press in the new ones with a hydaulic press..costs about 10 bucks an LCA....done...put on new suspension.

 

about how many tons does the press have to be to install bushings? im thinking of getting a hydraulic press so i can install the es kit on my car.

 

I dunno...the OEM bushings are steal sleaved bushings....the shop said they were a bitch to press and they have a pretty big hydraulic press I am sure.

 

When I put my ES bushing in, we did it with a small press I have at the machine shop I work at. It's basically a bottle jack (don't know how big, sorry) upsidedown with 2 steel bars going across. To do the front, we used a couple of bolts to push the center rubber bushing/sleeve out and then clamped the LCA in a vice and put a hacksaw blade through it, reattached the hacksaw and then just cut the outer metal sleeve (be careful not to cut into the LCA itself). Once it's cut, you can hammer on it with a flat screwdriver and it will come out (the pressure is released once it's cut). For the rears, we took a piece of round brass stock and put it in a lathe and machined it down to exactly the same dimensions as the outer metal bushing and just pushed the SOB out that way. Worked pretty well (sounded horrible but the brass is soft so it took the brunt of the damage) but you need an accurate lathe and a piece of brass stock, so I don't know if that's the best option for most people (the hacksaw would have worked for the rear too, this way was faster). To push the new bushing in, just soak those sucker in grease and you can push them in with a vice. That parts easy.

 

im thinkin of just gettin a new control arm and screw... what LCAs are compatible with my hatch?