Seized caster adjustment, what are my options?
#1
Thread Starter
Seized caster adjustment, what are my options?
I got my car aligned a few weeks ago and the tech said my caster adjusters and rear camber adjusters were seized. He made it sound like a fairly straightforward fix; I could remove and replace the cam bolt and get the car realigned. Is this actually possible? After doing some research on here it looks like the common solution is cutting the old bolt out, removing the LCA, pressing a new compliance bushing in, and putting everything back together. Similar process for the rear camber bolts. I haven't had a chance to try to break the bolts loose myself but I'm hoping to this weekend if the weather stays clear.
If simply removing the bolts is not possible, what are my options? New arms are horribly expensive from Honda, and they don't seem to sell individual bushings. I'd like to avoid poly as well since I don't want to go through the costs/trouble of installing zerks on the arms. The car only has 64k miles so I'm assuming my actual bushings are fine and not worth replacing.
If simply removing the bolts is not possible, what are my options? New arms are horribly expensive from Honda, and they don't seem to sell individual bushings. I'd like to avoid poly as well since I don't want to go through the costs/trouble of installing zerks on the arms. The car only has 64k miles so I'm assuming my actual bushings are fine and not worth replacing.
Last edited by JamesD89; 01-04-2017 at 03:55 PM.
#3
#4
Thread Starter
Mugen bushings are shockingly reasonable from GoTuning (though not in stock); $377 for all the F/R LCA bushings+compliance.
Hoping the breaker bar works this weekend. The first 34k of the car's life was in NJ with 2 mildly abusive owners. Not frame, body, or structural rust, but every bolt I've removed underneath the car has required come cutting or prodigious amounts of penetrating fluid.
Avoiding poly since it's my daily and I don't want to have to deal with the extra maintenance or pay for installing grease zerks.
Avoiding poly since it's my daily and I don't want to have to deal with the extra maintenance or pay for installing grease zerks.
#5
Mugen bushings are shockingly reasonable from GoTuning (though not in stock); $377 for all the F/R LCA bushings+compliance.
Hoping the breaker bar works this weekend. The first 34k of the car's life was in NJ with 2 mildly abusive owners. Not frame, body, or structural rust, but every bolt I've removed underneath the car has required come cutting or prodigious amounts of penetrating fluid.
Avoiding poly since it's my daily and I don't want to have to deal with the extra maintenance or pay for installing grease zerks.
Hoping the breaker bar works this weekend. The first 34k of the car's life was in NJ with 2 mildly abusive owners. Not frame, body, or structural rust, but every bolt I've removed underneath the car has required come cutting or prodigious amounts of penetrating fluid.
Avoiding poly since it's my daily and I don't want to have to deal with the extra maintenance or pay for installing grease zerks.
#6
The problem is the bolt freezes to the inner collar of the bushing. So you aren't just cutting the nut off the bolt, you have to cut the bolt on the inside ends of the bracket that holds the LCA. Both ends, nut end as well as bolt head end.
I bought the Mugen Compliance Bushing pair from King Motorsports (the US distributor).
I managed to press the old out and new in without removing the LCA from the car, and without a shop press. I used a ball joint press rented from AZ, and a die fabricated from exhaust pipe couplers also from AZ. I created a diy thread you can search for.
When you replace the parts, be sure to lube up the bolt shaft with antiseize so this doesn't happen again.
I bought the Mugen Compliance Bushing pair from King Motorsports (the US distributor).
I managed to press the old out and new in without removing the LCA from the car, and without a shop press. I used a ball joint press rented from AZ, and a die fabricated from exhaust pipe couplers also from AZ. I created a diy thread you can search for.
When you replace the parts, be sure to lube up the bolt shaft with antiseize so this doesn't happen again.
Trending Topics
#9
Thread Starter
I'm expecting to pay around $1,000 to get the old bushings cut out, new Mugen compliance bushings with fresh OEM bolts pressed in, and Buddy club F/R RCAs+install sometime after I get my return. More than I'd like to spend on parts right now but I figured this was a good excuse throw some other stuff on the car. The crappy Firestone I just took my car to realign it after I attempted to break things loose was able to adjust front/rear camber and toe so I'm just not going to bother with the other bushings right now. May buy new OEM bolts and adjusters and lube them up to prevent anymore premature seizing.
#10
I've oogled the Blacktrax arms a few times but there's no way I can justify spending that much money on control arms and bushings; I just like to pretend I'm a race car driver on my commute home. Jei's car does ride absolutely fantastically on track though
I'm expecting to pay around $1,000 to get the old bushings cut out, new Mugen compliance bushings with fresh OEM bolts pressed in, and Buddy club F/R RCAs+install sometime after I get my return. More than I'd like to spend on parts right now but I figured this was a good excuse throw some other stuff on the car. The crappy Firestone I just took my car to realign it after I attempted to break things loose was able to adjust front/rear camber and toe so I'm just not going to bother with the other bushings right now. May buy new OEM bolts and adjusters and lube them up to prevent anymore premature seizing.
I'm expecting to pay around $1,000 to get the old bushings cut out, new Mugen compliance bushings with fresh OEM bolts pressed in, and Buddy club F/R RCAs+install sometime after I get my return. More than I'd like to spend on parts right now but I figured this was a good excuse throw some other stuff on the car. The crappy Firestone I just took my car to realign it after I attempted to break things loose was able to adjust front/rear camber and toe so I'm just not going to bother with the other bushings right now. May buy new OEM bolts and adjusters and lube them up to prevent anymore premature seizing.
blacktrax stuff is really legit but ya they r very expensive.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post