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I was looking to replace the struts on my 05 civic LX. Looked like it would be easy enough of a DIY. Using the tools I have around and having bought some complete ready to install replacements. I PB'B the bolt and went to trying to remove it yesterday. It was extremely tight, so I decided to let it sit overnight to let the penetrating oil do it's thing. Come to today, with a breaker bar, I finally managed to get the bolt to move. The tension on it was extreme, but it was moving albeit slowly. I did this all by hand and after a couple full rotations and some loud clanks (which I had thought were just the bolt coming free) it looks like I've broken a tac weld for where the bolt is supposed to go through(?)


I'm not sure where to go from here, the bolt is more freely spinning but it also looks like I've only got it spinning more free from flaring out the mounting bracket and even worse stripping the tip of the bolt on the threads opposite.


Do I make an attempt at cutting the bolt? Drilling the head out?


I've got basic mechanical know-how, but I'm not a mechanic and at this point it looks like I've done some real damage, looking for some advice guys.


Thanks.

 
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It looks like all you need to do is remove that nut and punch the bolt out. If the nut won't thread all the way off of that bolt, it looks like you have plenty of room to just cut the bolt, punch it out and replace it with a decent replacement set of fasteners.

 
Rep Power: 118

Annoying because the blades tend to go south fast, but a oscillating tool allows you to cut that bolt without hitting anything else.

Good news is you don’t have to worry about extracting broken bolt bits from the nut since you broke the nut free.

 
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Yea. Thanks guys. That nut was actually damaged on the outside so it won't be reusable, I ended up cutting that bugger with a sawzall on the right hand side, between the strut and arm-bracket. It got too dark to continue any further, I'll have to try and punch the bolt back through on the other side, or also cut it as well.


For anyone reading this because they have similar problems, I've accepted that it needs to be cut. Yes, you need to buy another 17mm to replace it unless your new strut/shock assembly comes with one. Mine did not. Also in my case, I need another nut to replace the damaged nut that was on there (I genuinely think my nut was toast from the start just couldn't see it until after wards because of it's position).

Again thanks for the advice guys, was helpful.

 
Rep Power: 224

Is the bushing in the shock fused to the bolt? I have seen that happen on front control arms. If that's the case the bolt will be a pain to remove.

 
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Yea. I had to cut both sides of that bolt. I had tried my with a 5 pound sledge and a punch to knock it through but that bushing wasn't giving, you can see the "flaring" on it from the impacts.

The whole reason I was replacing the strut in the first place is it was causing some pretty decent scalloping on the inside of the tread of my tire. Which was probably due to the bushing and bolt not allowing the shock and strut to do their thing appropriately.


To follow up, for other unlucky seized bolt fellows using google to try and find replacement parts. The bolt is "90181-S84-A00" and I bought "90213-SJ6-004" as a replacement nut. [presently I don't know if that nut will work for said bolt, but I'll update this after I receive them]

EDIT:: These two items to work together 90181-S84-A00, 90213-SJ6-004

 
Rep Power: 118

I would expect “scalloping” to be caused by the upper rear control arm, upper hub bushing, or even possibly the lower rear control arm before I would suspect the strut.

 
Rep Power: 367

ouch, I have the welded nut break free on the rear sway bar. That one did not even have the hex and it was inside the frame... That one was a bi*^#
Glad you got it out...
Old suspensions are quite painful...