I changed the droplinks on my Civic yesterday as there was a terrible knocking noise coming from the suspension - it took less than 30 mins and that included moving the car as I can only get to one side at a time in the garage. I've seen a few requests for a how to on here and loads of threads saying how difficult it is so I thought I'd share my way of doing it.
I bought the drop links from eBay for £23 a pair.
First off jack up one side of the car and remove the front wheel (don't forget to properly support the car). I have an electric impact gun which makes short work of the nuts but I always undo and do up the locking bolt by hand.
Next spray some PlusGas on the threads of the drop links. PlusGas is easily the best stuff for getting stuck nuts and bolts apart - it's a specific dismantling fluid as opposed to stuff like WD40 which is a water-displacing spray. If you don't have any PlusGas in your garage I strongly suggest you buy some as it's brilliant.
Whilst the PlusGas was soaking in I cleaned off the face of the hubs with a wire brush. They were covered in rust and the alloys were stuck solid to them.
Here's how I loosened the bolts. I used a crappy 14mm spanner and an old 5mm hex wrench with a lump hammer to get things going. I didn't use any good tools as there's a real danger of breaking something. Take care to clean the inside of the bolt out where the hex wrench goes in order to get the most amount of the tool inside. The hex wrench will turn but gets stuck against the strut so you only have to worry about moving the spanner.
This method worked for three out of four. For the final nut more drastic methods were needed. First off heat the nut with a blow torch.
Once it's nice and hot spray something from a can into the hole where the hex key goes (use a straw). I used WD40 but anything that comes out of a can as a vapour will do. The blow torch heats both the nut and bolt up so they expand. Sparying the WD40 into the bolt causes it to cool rapidly and shrink - the vapour takes a lot of energy to convert to a gas from a liquid due to latent heat so it comes out super cold. With the nut expanded with heat and the bolt contracted by cooling they will come undone very easily. You can't beat the laws of physics!
With the bolts loose undo them but leave them on the threads half a turn or so.
Support the bottom of the hub - I have some blocks of wood strapped together for this exact purpose. The support has to be sturdy enough to take a good amount of weight.
Now lower the jack. As the body of the car lowers the tension in the anti roll bar reduces. Let the jack down enough until the droplink is free inside the mounts. Undo the bolts and remove the drop link - have the new one to hand as I found the anti roll bar moved a touch after a min or so. Switching them out instantly will save a bit of faffing around.
The new drop llinks came with bolts but I stuck a couple of M10 washers on I had to hand.
The new bolts are 17mm and there are 17mm flats at the back of the bolt for a spanner to hold it in place.
I also smeared a little copper grease on the face of the hub to stop the wheel sticking to it.
The car is now knock free - job done!
I bought the drop links from eBay for £23 a pair.
First off jack up one side of the car and remove the front wheel (don't forget to properly support the car). I have an electric impact gun which makes short work of the nuts but I always undo and do up the locking bolt by hand.
Next spray some PlusGas on the threads of the drop links. PlusGas is easily the best stuff for getting stuck nuts and bolts apart - it's a specific dismantling fluid as opposed to stuff like WD40 which is a water-displacing spray. If you don't have any PlusGas in your garage I strongly suggest you buy some as it's brilliant.
Whilst the PlusGas was soaking in I cleaned off the face of the hubs with a wire brush. They were covered in rust and the alloys were stuck solid to them.
Here's how I loosened the bolts. I used a crappy 14mm spanner and an old 5mm hex wrench with a lump hammer to get things going. I didn't use any good tools as there's a real danger of breaking something. Take care to clean the inside of the bolt out where the hex wrench goes in order to get the most amount of the tool inside. The hex wrench will turn but gets stuck against the strut so you only have to worry about moving the spanner.
This method worked for three out of four. For the final nut more drastic methods were needed. First off heat the nut with a blow torch.
Once it's nice and hot spray something from a can into the hole where the hex key goes (use a straw). I used WD40 but anything that comes out of a can as a vapour will do. The blow torch heats both the nut and bolt up so they expand. Sparying the WD40 into the bolt causes it to cool rapidly and shrink - the vapour takes a lot of energy to convert to a gas from a liquid due to latent heat so it comes out super cold. With the nut expanded with heat and the bolt contracted by cooling they will come undone very easily. You can't beat the laws of physics!
With the bolts loose undo them but leave them on the threads half a turn or so.
Support the bottom of the hub - I have some blocks of wood strapped together for this exact purpose. The support has to be sturdy enough to take a good amount of weight.
Now lower the jack. As the body of the car lowers the tension in the anti roll bar reduces. Let the jack down enough until the droplink is free inside the mounts. Undo the bolts and remove the drop link - have the new one to hand as I found the anti roll bar moved a touch after a min or so. Switching them out instantly will save a bit of faffing around.
The new drop llinks came with bolts but I stuck a couple of M10 washers on I had to hand.
The new bolts are 17mm and there are 17mm flats at the back of the bolt for a spanner to hold it in place.
I also smeared a little copper grease on the face of the hub to stop the wheel sticking to it.
The car is now knock free - job done!