UCA bolt broke....

[Oldblueaccord]

My drivers side UCA bolt broke the other day. Luck was I was shopping at Home Depot and I got it towed from there. I was just on the highway and it was handling a little wierd. I guess pretty luck over all I was just on Rt. 129 a few days ago.




not real happy with how it broke it appears that the bolt was stuck in my metal bushing, which I knew about, but why it broke there I'm not sure. it pivots a little farther up on the threads and there is little wear on it.

wp

[2oodoor]

that..... is strange
that bad boy should have been annoyingly squeakish well before that happened.
yep Im glad for you it wasn't like on the interstate while you were in between a couple of 18 wheelers going 80.

[BITESIZE]

Did you overtighten it? Whew that could have been bad!

[w261w261]

Urk! Reminds me of when I had a '73 BMW 3.0CS, which I used to drive pretty fast pretty regularly. One day in town at 25mph, I hit a bump and popped the top right off the right rear shock tower, which had rusted from the inside. If that had happened on a 90mph sweeper I'm sure it would have been unpleasant.

The bodies on those CS's were made by Karmann, King of Rust, and my problem was probably exacerbated by the Eibach springs and Bilstein shocks, which made for a pretty hard ride.

Anytime something like that happens with the suspension, it's good you don't crash.

[Oldblueaccord]

well its fixed but it gonna bother me for a while. It was a 10.8 grade bolt which should be more then enough. Also where the break is there is no rust that I can see that would weaken the bolt. The head did hold so one side of the arm stayed captured but I think a hard brake and it would have snapped to with the wheel being at an odd angle and all.

[Oldblueaccord]

Heres the pics of the press in ball joint. I put up the link to where I got them. $38 8$ shipping and he combined them so 2 for 8$ ship. Lowest I could get locally is 70$ plus tax for the 3 5's.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LF-FR...6705QQtcZphoto




Made in Tiawain Dorman part.


wp

[MessyHonda]

should of got some 2nd gen lude arms but you already have a camber kit....

[Oldblueaccord]

Agreed but does it give me the -2 camber I need(want) I never heard either way on that. Otherwise its a wash.



wp

[lostforawhile]

strange, well replace the bolt and mark it up to bad luck. when i did my upper arms i bought a kit which had the bolts,bushings,grease caps,the entire deal. if i knew the exact dimensions i could probably find some from ARP

[russiankid]

strange, well replace the bolt and mark it up to bad luck. when i did my upper arms i bought a kit which had the bolts,bushings,grease caps,the entire deal. if i knew the exact dimensions i could probably find some from ARP

Thanks for bringing it up from the dead.

[Civic Accord Honda]

Thanks for bringing it up from the dead.

word

[lostforawhile]

it's not a year old yet, not completly dead

[evil88accordLX]

My drivers side UCA bolt broke the other day. Luck was I was shopping at Home Depot and I got it towed from there.

i know this is old, but why didnt you take the bolt and march right back into Home Depot and get a new replacement bolt on the spot? they could have helped you match the bolt size, and even if you didnt have the right tools at the time, its Home Depot! they have just about any tool you could need. would have been waaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than a tow.

[LiTtLe xOx BitT]

Looks like it was overtightened. Is that 2 nuts on the end of that bolt? If so, thats probably what did it. If you tightened the 2nd nut too much and started to stretch the bolt. It has happened to me before, just not on anything too important like a control arm.

[DBMaster]

That camber kit looks like an Ingalls. I had one similar to that that I removed from my car. It was not as secure a mount as OEM and I thought it allowed too much lateral movement of the UCA as evidence by substantial "banging" when shifting into reverse. I would not be surprised if the camber kit didn't contribute to the bolt failure.

[lostforawhile]

i know this is old, but why didnt you take the bolt and march right back into Home Depot and get a new replacement bolt on the spot? they could have helped you match the bolt size, and even if you didnt have the right tools at the time, its Home Depot! they have just about any tool you could need. would have been waaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper than a tow.

thats not a hardware grade bolt,it's a special bolt. never never use hardware store fasteners in your suspension. you can get those at advance i think,they have a kit.

[Oldblueaccord]

OK well trying to respond to this but the site times out so here it goes again.

First yes this was a grade 10.8 10mm x250mm ? bolt. I am using the Specialty products camber kit. I bought them at my usually bolt supply place,not Homie’s Depot, but I do suspect that it may have been Chinese made. I buy from another place and they dropped a hint to me that they sell American made Grade 8 and up where as “other” places in town sell Chinese. They are trying to get our business at work so I take some of what they say with a grain of salt and the discount with a smile.

The bolt is seized into the steel bushing that I had been using so corrosion may have been a problem although there is no rust that I can see anywhere. The arm does pivot on the bolt but it did not appear to be worn at all. Since it does pivot I had them torqued pretty light and them a nylock second nut with lock tite to keep it together. I found a picture I took of the steel bushing set up a month or too before it broke.



I do think about it still since it sits on my small work bench here at the house. I still am leaning to a bolt failure.

I plan on pulling the new bushing setup front again UCA’s around a years time (coming up) and see how the nylon is doing wear wise with the bolts thru it. On one side I used a sleeve/bolt combo and the other side the bolt runs tight thru the bushing with no sleeve. A front end check today seems to look fine so far. I used Grade 8 on this one as well going with 3/8 since I need a length that is very very hard to get.


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On a smiliar note I put a new balljoint in the rear arm that was non greaseable. I was testing it vs a greaseable one. Since it did have slop in it I replaced it. The boot was torn and the grease was long gone of course. I drilled a grease fitting in it and have confidence that it will be a lifetime set up.

wp

[evil88accordLX]

thats not a hardware grade bolt,it's a special bolt. never never use hardware store fasteners in your suspension. you can get those at advance i think,they have a kit.

i agree, but it would at least get you back home. just as a temporary fix.

[LX-incredible]

I wound up going with the moog cam studs in the front. Damn ingalls bullshit crushed the new washer cups just enough to cause them to move with the bushing. When I went to pull everything apart the damn bolt was starting to strip. Didn't even get to the full 40 ft/lbs either. I can guarantee yours broke from the sleeves/washers moving against it.

[Dr_Snooz]

This is why I don't do any mods. It just makes things break creatively and in dangerous ways.

[lostforawhile]

This is why I don't do any mods. It just makes things break creatively and in dangerous ways.

it's not bad to mod, you just have to have some engineering and mechanical background to make sure you know what you are doing is all.

[Oldblueaccord]

Nope you guys are 100% correct. its a good reason why I don't sell stuff I make but lead others to make it themselves. There is risk.

I don't want to cause a panic the stock Honda bolt is very very hard and well made. I don't think in any circumstances it would break unless it was in a very corrosive area.


Lxi incredable did you go with those new moog studs that camber correct like on rock auto? Those are my next ones to try at some point. There pretty much the plan I had in my head to make a nice fully adjustable camber adjuster that was heavy duty, functional, and lend itself nicely to some upper reinforcements i have been planning sometime in the future.



wp

[LX-incredible]

That's them. You need 2 studs, one for each side in the forward position. The stock studs get reused in the rear position on each side. Seems strange that you'ld only use one for each arm, but it's quite solid. Do check for proper fitment to the body before installing, I had to grind one just a hair to fit the hole.

[RanchoRat]

hey im new here and was wondering any good websites for suspension replacement or to do a little beefing up.. i have a 87 lx-i hatch with a A20A3