old97civic

I got the go ahead to put some new struts on the car seeing as it still drives good, might as well have a smoother ride.

But the strut swap was conditional on being able to remove the old struts. Fair enough, I'd have to remove them at some point anyway...

So, I started with the passenger side. Loosened the nuts at the top, then started working on the 2 flange bolts, one that holds the strut to the lower control arm, and the other bolt which connects the LCA to the trailing arm. It took a while using an impact and lots of PB blaster but they finally came out. Put everything back together.

On to the driver's side. Different story here. The bolt through the bottom of the strut is cracked loose from the nut, I can feel the end of the bolt turning where it goes through the welded nut. BUT, it appears to be seized to the bushing there. Hmmm leave that one for the time being.

The other bolt, no matter how much I fired that impact wrench, it wouldn't budge. Out came the breaker bar and snapped the head of the bolt. Hmmm. Now I'm trying to get a plan together to deal with the situation. I'm thinking given how the fasteners are in similar condition, I'd rather not remove any of the arms from the car as I might just create more problems.

I was thinking of cutting/grinding off the welded nut which is on the front of the lower control arm. Then drive out the remnants of the bolt. Obviously after I would replace with a high grade bolt and nut. Problem is that the access to that welded nut is tight - there is a plastic bracket there which seems to have no purpose. Was unable to get the nut on the far side. Any reason I shouldn't break it off? It's really blocking access to the welded nut.

Doable? Any other ideas? I read a bunch of threads about drilling through the bolt. That seems like a real PITA but I can see possibly having to do that if the shaft of the bolt can't be hammered out.

Here are some pics showing the back of the LCA and the plastic bracket (that is seen from the front).

ezone

Yes it's a real PITA.

Cut, chop, drill, whatever you gotta do to get it apart-- with the least collateral damage-- and still have something left that will be safe to put together--- is the main goal.

If you have to chop out a welded nut, just make sure a regular nut and washer or whatever can still be used to reassemble whatever you are working with.

Upgrading the bolts wouldn't keep anything from rusting, would it? I'd load them and the bushing sleeves with anti-seize or heavy chassis grease or something....then hope they never need to come apart again.

I'm in the rust belt.
Fire, cutoff wheel, and sawzall are your friends.
If that job is estimated correctly-- knowing ahead of time how bad it can be--- it would total out the car on paper.

old97civic

100% agree. I meant getting a high grade bolt as opposed to Grade 2.

As for the shock bolt, that one is seized in the bushing. Methinks I will just leave it be, retorque everything and never speak of struts again.

Oh, this is my own vehicle so there is no budget and there is no schedule

old97civic

ugh still not there. 4" angle grinder cannot be used; disc is too big and it touches the drum backing plate and part of the trailing arm before you can reach the nut

Tried a close quarter hacksaw. Snapped off sections of the blade as they became used. Also used jigsaw with metal blade. There was just enough space for the saw and the stroke length was such that everything just fit. But the blades are not enough to do the job. They cut partway into it and became dull. I think the nut is softer than the bolt here.

I will now attempt to cut off the small bolt that holds that black plastic thing. That will give me access to the front so I can use my dremel type tool.

In the service manual, I can see that plastic thing in the illustrations, but nothing calls it out or describes it.

emich

Don't bother. As ezone mention replacing the bolt could be nightmare. Just weld it as shown on the picture.

old97civic

Too late. Small fastener holding the plastic thing has been cut off. This gave access to use cutting wheels on the nut end. Next will be to use BFH to pound it out. Had BBQ this afternoon so will be trying this tomorrow.

Anticipating it doesn't work, are the cobalt bits the ones to use for this? The bolt yielded to the cutting wheels, but it certainly seemed hard.

ezone

I think the bolts were ordinary 8.8 so they aren't super hard. A good sharp set of HSS bits should be ok, and spin the drill bit slow and use plenty of cutting oil.

old97civic

Well the BFH wasn't up to the job. Long story short, I was able to get the LCA-to-body bolt out. It was actually the easiest one to get out. Then, because the strut bolt is also seized in its bushing, I simply cut off the strut and pulled the LCA off the car. It will be replaced with new. Neat how Honda uses the same LCA for both sides.

So the car will once again be on the road, it's just a matter of when I have all the parts gathered.

To complicate things further, the place I was going to order complete strut coil assemblies is out of stock, which didn't show up until I actually went to proceed with the order. So I went to a major chain tonight as they have a BOGO free special for Monroe quick struts, but they cannot locate inventory. They will try to source from 3rd party. Seems like the complete strut coil assemblies may be getting rarer for these older cars, understandably. Can't be too many folks buying these. I may have to get bare struts.

old97civic

Who knew it'd be so hard to get struts here in Canada? The major chain store that shall remain nameless had a BOGO Free promotion on Monroe Quickstruts, so I went to order them on Thursday. No stock at this store sir, let's see if other stores have 'em. Nope, nada not a single store in the entire nation has them either. They checked with their affiliated chain of stores which shall also remain nameless, no luck there either. No stock at any store, nothing available from "central". They promised to check with 3rd party suppliers. Today I called the store and after reminding them who I was and that I was there just 2 days ago, they said oh right, uh, no we didn't have any luck. I called the other parts places myself only to find the same dead end.

Ended up ordering from RockAuto. Even with the shipping it's cheaper than the prices I was quoted locally (not that they had stock or could get them). Still have to wait 'til July 14th though.

Then again since today is July 4th, no one will be looking at the order until the 6th, it's possible I'll get an email on the 6th saying "The product you ordered is no longer available, sorry for any inconvenience" Oy vey!

old97civic

Expected delivery date was updated to the 9th, then the 10th, then back to the 9th and they did arrive this morning. Everything is in, definitely smoother than before. Ride height did go up a bit, though how much I am not sure as I did not measure before. It is what it is.