Hey all,

Here is the deal, been doing my suspension swap out, rears went in no problem and are all set. Fronts are a whole different animal, the bolt on top of the yoke that squeezes the yoke together has completely fused to the yoke and is inoperable. I started to take it out and it was turning, or so I thought, it turns out I was really turning the metal and then the head just popped off! So now I cant get the strut out because the yoke is fused closed tight with the stud of the bolt still inside, (The bolt is threaded in there with no nut around the base of the strut).

Not sure what to do, this is where the emergency part comes in, because I need to drive this car 400miles tomorrow night and its Easter sunday, I didn't plan on this obviously and I followed the guide and did the rears first.

Should I drill it out and replace with a bolt and nut combo? Or should I wait till tomorrow and try the Acura dealer and see if they have a completely new yoke which I doubt they will.

Feel free to pm for my number if you want to call me for some help, LOL this feels so shitty

 

Well your going to have to drill it out anyways. I had the same problem but the screw came out with a gun.

 

Yeah that's what I figured, so my question is what should I replace it with?

 

Anyone know what size the yoke top bolt is? It was a 14 mm head to get it out.

Going to pick up some left handed drill bits now and drill the ol' girl out!

 

The contributors will help you out soon for sure

 

If I'm reading your statement correctly, #20 on the link below is the culprit?

http://www.acuraoemparts.com/delray/...All&vinsrch=no

If so, try to get #22 out of the LCA and unbolt the five flange bolts from the top of the damper and swing the whole assembly out to do your drilling. Not sure you will have enough room to place a drill in there. Although, separating the lower balljoint to facilitate that may be necessary.

Good luck.

 

New bolts have been ordered and car is booked in at the dealership. Have to go back to NYC so I couldn't be here to deal with it. So the cl is back in Rochester for the week. Really wanted to have it this week but I am at this point trying to salvage at least one day of Honda day next weekend.

She looks goofy with her butt sitting low and te front still like a monster truck but I still love her. The dealership offered to potentially install the coilovers but I am not sure if I want them too. They probably won't be able to match the height with the backbones to where I want it without me there, so it would end up that I would have to take the wheels off anyways and readjust them. My thinking is to wait and do it myself, but I am going to put them in the car anyways and the guy is going to call me tomorrow and let me know how the bolt removal went and we will go from there.

Thanks for your help Simon And zeta! I really appreciate it. Love this forum.

 

Why not just buy a new bolt and strut fork?

The fork is $50, the bolt is $4. Get it online for ~$65 shipped, then continue with the install. The dealer is probably charging you at least an hour in labor, which is around $80/hr, right?

 

Yeah I went through this last year when installing my Eibach springs. Same damn bolt. I would recommend just doing as Civic said and buy a new fork and bolt. It was cheaper and easier and also reassuring to know the proper strength bolt went back in there because when we tried to find a replacement for mine re noticed it was some ridiculously strong grade steel.

 

I cant get the strut out because the yoke is fused closed tight with the stud of the bolt still inside, (The bolt is threaded in there with no nut around the base of the strut

 

Like I said, I understand I have had the same problem.

Once you have your new fork... you have no use for the old one.

Be careful and use a grinding wheel or something similar to slowly cut the bolt until you can get a pry bar in there to separate the assembly.

BE CAREFUL CUTTING, you can nick the strut itself if you are careless.

 

Car is in the shop currently, I am waiting on word of bolt removal. fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly.

Morgan, both bolts were fused (one on each side) so If I can pay for the new bolts and an hour of labor I am saving myself the hassle of cutting the forks out or screwing around in there when it isnt too necessary and a little more money.

Spook, I would try your way but like I said I had to be in NYC from Rochester in 12 hours and didn't have access to the proper tools at my parents house. Upstate NY sucks! I am glad I found another upstate CL owner on here though.

 

BTW Spook, that post above yours wasn't me (spam bot) but it did make sense lol

 

sorry to hear that stupid fork is causing u so much grief. I feel pretty lucky now cause when i did my coilovers i could remove the forks using just my hands. I just don't understand how yours are so fused on there? my car has been driven each winter and still it was a cake walk...

impact gun won't take that bolt out???
if i got that far i'd wack the fork with a hammer or mini-sledge to geter a bit loose and taker off. i'm just really surprised. I did my buddy's 94 integra which has those forks as well on the suspension and it was a breeze too. i just dun get it.

hope u geter done without hurting the wallet there chief.

 

Indeed upstate NY is terrible. I can't wait to move on to greener pastures when school is over.
The worst part abut when this happened to me was that my car was only from Southern Ohio its whole life. I can't even blame UNY for my troubles as much as I would love to do so.

When you're in Rochachacha you're only an hour from here. Good to know fellow enthusiasts are not all in Cali or south of the rustbelt.

 

I guess I should mention that when they are that fused you are just as likely to take the head ff the bolt as out are to free it... trust me. I'm guessing mime was cross threaded too but the head of mine snapped off. Hand tools too, no slipping just tension then nine and a big oh crap haha. Even if it wasn't cross threaded there is a heck of a lot more shaft to fuse to the fork than there is head to wrenched.

 

oh i agree with u on that note. i've seen plenty of heavy duty grade bolts snap in half trying to get them out...

u'd think if they put that much time into making it strong they'd find a way to prevent corrosion. but to make metal strong for the most part they add in carbon to strengthen it which attributes to the corrosion.

galvanizing would help but would likely not work on the teeth as it would wear out and therefore be practically useless.. one day they'll solve this problem i hope.

 

Problem is there is not enough of a market that demands rust prevention when compared to all the money it takes to develop those technologies. Sadly for us it is just cheaper for a company to put a product out and then find out what is wrong and fix it next time.

 

Spook same thing happened to me, tension tension tension and then it turned a quarter turn and i was like hell yeah and then the ratchet fell off and took the head with it. I was about to scream fuuuuuu and then looked down the driveway and a little girl and her mom were watching me. Hand was bleeding everywhere cut when the ratchet slipped I cut it on the brake guard. Not my finest moment.

 

Hahahah I don't mean to laugh at the situation, but I went through the same thing. It feels terrible. You just have to laugh it off though.

 

yea I removed my heat shields from the front.. less brake fade for sure... +++ in my book.

dunno why people don't do it but w/e.. there loss.

just make sure you wrap up the abs sensor with some header wrap and that'll prevent it from being beaten up by the heat.

but if u think about it, by removing the heat shield you get consistent temps on the rotor vs one side with no flow and the other exposed on the front... no I KNOW the cooling happens from the veins inside the rotor when it's rotating but when it's stationary then u get uneven temp build up on the rotors, which IMHO is what contributes to warped brakes when u park the car with hot rotors (not that u should, but sometimes it just happens)

 

Wear gloves. Good luck.

 

You Californian folk don't have to deal with this stuff haha. We buy cars from your state because it's not like ours. Lucky... I can't wait to move.