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AZmike
09-29-2003, 12:26 AM
While attempting to remove the front lower control arm on my 86 Prelude (nearly identical to our Accords) I managed to break the bolt the lower control arm pivots on. The bolt broke where it had apparently seized to the sleeve of the bushing. So now the car is basically not driveable since that bolt is now loaded in bending instead of double shear and a bump or the extra force from a turn could easily break it.

My question is does anyone know a way to remove the lower control arm and the frame mounting bolt without drilling the bolt out along its axis? There is only about 4" between the where the bolt's head used to be and the oil pan. Even with the oil pan out I’m not sure if there’d be enough room to work. Right now my plan is to replace the subframe that the lower control arms (and transmission and steering rack) connect to with new control arms as an assembly. This seemed a little extreme, I was hoping someone else had a better answer.

Also, be careful trying the method described here by Mark:

http://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16728

If the damper fork bolt is stuck well enough you can strip the nut trying to pull it through. It did take an air-powered impact wrench on its highest setting to do it though.

Thanks for any suggestions, etc.