alright, while doing my suspension on my cb7s, the same thing happened to both. the lower bolt that holds the rear shocks to the knuckles was totally seized into its bushing sleeve, so removing the bolt will either completely tear up the rubber (which happened my first time) or itll break the bolt (happened my second time) - which would force you to replace the bushing and bolt. and you all wondered why only the front of my car had been lowered
so this time, with the bolt breaking, i had to go thru the pain of replacing the bushing. and if youve run into this im sure you know that its not fun, some people remove the whole knuckle and bring it to a shop to get a new bushing pressed in, others replace the whole knuckle... others do it by hand:
heres the setup, the hole on the right is after i already removed all remains of the strut and bolt and inside of the bushing, you can see the rest of the rubber still stuck to the sides. the thin ring around the edge of the hole is the outer sleeve of the bushing, this is the part that needs to be removed. the new bushing is on the left, i got one from Napa for $12... its called a "rear lower strut mount."
here are the part numbers that ive found:
Autozone: 142150
Advance Auto: SM5051
Napa: K9443
if youre looking to upgrade to a harder/urethane bushing, theres two options that i know of:
- see page 2 of this thread for lucid's method
- Hardrace.com sells hardened rubber ones listed for 94-97 accord (see this thread)
the "stock" replacement bushing i got from napa:
step one: drill a bunch of holes thru the rubber to make it not as stiff, then twist it till it is totally loose... then rip the rubber out. i guess you can do this anyway you want, but thats how i did it. i have no pic of this, its self explanitory- "remove the rubber."
step two: drill a hole between the sleeve and the knuckle by sitting the drill bit in the thin gap around the outside. i first drilled it with a 3/32, then ended up enlarging it with a 5/32 (why the heck not, right?) doing this ended up cutting most of the sleeve, creating a relatively wide gap in the ring... and gives a good spot to chisel from.
step three: get a nice new sharp chisel, and put one corner of it in the hole, with the blade of it directly into the corner, between the bushing sleeve and the knuckle. hammer away!! i actually didnt use a sledgehammer or anything, just a normal hammer, it worked fine.
step four: youll notice the chisel starting to dent in the ring - if you get it shaped like this (arrow pointing to where the chisel went in) it relieves almost all tension from the sides of the bushing... so as youre chiseling for step two, youll probably accidentally knock the bushing out.
TADAA!!! its out!! pretty effortlessly too, i might add. only had to drill a hole!
step five: i used a file and made sure no burrs or anything were sticking out in the way of the path of the new bushing (i beat up the edges while trying to get that thing out), greased the outside of the bushing, and the inside of the knuckle hole... lined it up... and it tapped straight in. i guess i probably should have used some antiseize as a lubricant instead of grease... but oh well, the grease probably shouldnt go anywhere. i used some versachem 888 mega copper high temp silicone crap to plug up the hole so it doesnt corrode, and it looks good as new!
so this time, with the bolt breaking, i had to go thru the pain of replacing the bushing. and if youve run into this im sure you know that its not fun, some people remove the whole knuckle and bring it to a shop to get a new bushing pressed in, others replace the whole knuckle... others do it by hand:
heres the setup, the hole on the right is after i already removed all remains of the strut and bolt and inside of the bushing, you can see the rest of the rubber still stuck to the sides. the thin ring around the edge of the hole is the outer sleeve of the bushing, this is the part that needs to be removed. the new bushing is on the left, i got one from Napa for $12... its called a "rear lower strut mount."
here are the part numbers that ive found:
Autozone: 142150
Advance Auto: SM5051
Napa: K9443
if youre looking to upgrade to a harder/urethane bushing, theres two options that i know of:
- see page 2 of this thread for lucid's method
- Hardrace.com sells hardened rubber ones listed for 94-97 accord (see this thread)
the "stock" replacement bushing i got from napa:
step one: drill a bunch of holes thru the rubber to make it not as stiff, then twist it till it is totally loose... then rip the rubber out. i guess you can do this anyway you want, but thats how i did it. i have no pic of this, its self explanitory- "remove the rubber."
step two: drill a hole between the sleeve and the knuckle by sitting the drill bit in the thin gap around the outside. i first drilled it with a 3/32, then ended up enlarging it with a 5/32 (why the heck not, right?) doing this ended up cutting most of the sleeve, creating a relatively wide gap in the ring... and gives a good spot to chisel from.
step three: get a nice new sharp chisel, and put one corner of it in the hole, with the blade of it directly into the corner, between the bushing sleeve and the knuckle. hammer away!! i actually didnt use a sledgehammer or anything, just a normal hammer, it worked fine.
step four: youll notice the chisel starting to dent in the ring - if you get it shaped like this (arrow pointing to where the chisel went in) it relieves almost all tension from the sides of the bushing... so as youre chiseling for step two, youll probably accidentally knock the bushing out.
TADAA!!! its out!! pretty effortlessly too, i might add. only had to drill a hole!
step five: i used a file and made sure no burrs or anything were sticking out in the way of the path of the new bushing (i beat up the edges while trying to get that thing out), greased the outside of the bushing, and the inside of the knuckle hole... lined it up... and it tapped straight in. i guess i probably should have used some antiseize as a lubricant instead of grease... but oh well, the grease probably shouldnt go anywhere. i used some versachem 888 mega copper high temp silicone crap to plug up the hole so it doesnt corrode, and it looks good as new!
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