Frozen Rear Toe Adjustment Bolt!!

K3Ntegra

Member
Thanks for responding.

I decided to heat up the bolt head and and dowse the bolt head with beeswax. And after it cooled down, go ahead and spray penetrating fluid (very flammable) along the compensator arm bushing, and through the tiny hole into where the nut [link to HT post w/picture] presides.

I decided to have the mechanic specialize in removing the nut, since I didn't want to run the risk of towing the car. According to him, the bolt head is able to turn successfully but the the bolt shank is seized in the compensator arm's bushing, and I've gone ahead and got a replacement compensator arm, as well as toe bolts from the ebay merchant "valexracing" ($13 at Honda dealership).

Because the bolt is seized to the bushing, the nut on the opposite side will likely dislocate itself, if one attempts to remove the bolt from the car completely, according to this post (link).
If this happens then a hole needs to be drilled into the car's frame, or magnetic tool is need to re-position the nut; the former is out of my scope, and could cost big money.

Additionally, will burning out the bushing's rubber permit, the extraction of the bolt, irregardless whether it's still seized to the metallic sleeve?

Initially, I thought the bolt head was just seized to the frame's body; so I apologize if my question seems repetitive. It seems this ordeal is very similar to seized rear LCA bolts to LCA bushing sleeve.

Edit: I had a shop successfully remove the bolt with everything but the bushing in tact. The bushing fell right off the compensator arm. He used a torch connected to a large gas tank. The bushing did catch on fire, but blowing air from the mouth was able to put it out. When putting the bolt in, a screw driver was stuck into hole adjacent to the bolt's nut, and hold it in place, as the new bolt was put into place.

Before taking the car to the shop, I heated the bolt head moderately with a portable propane torch and applied beeswax, as snapping the bolt head would require drilling a 1 sq inch hole in the car's body. I also brought the new compensator arm and bolts.

Main reason I knew the compensator bolt was seized was because of the suspension/wheel alignment readings giving to me by 2 different shops.

Opposite end of the compensator arm's toe bolt is not seized and was surrounded by far less rust.
 
Last edited:

TegSox

Super Duper Moderator
I had the same problem as you, my toe adjustment bolt was seized to the bushing it goes through. I failed an inspection because of my real trailing arm bushings, so I had to get the arm out to replace that bushing. On the passenger side I was able to get the bolt at the other end of the compensator arm out, but on the driver side I broke the head of that bolt off, so I was forced to deal with the seized toe bolt. I wound up buying a reciprocating saw and cutting the bolt in half. The end of the bolt still inside the sliding nut came right out by hand with a little WD40.

I degreased this whole area, and repainted it to cover up all the bare metal marks I made with the dang saw blade.

I also ate up the comp arm pretty good during the cutting process but I scored a used OEM one on Ebay pretty cheap, and bought a new toe bolt from Honda. So, it gave me holy hell for a few hours, but I got the job done myself for about $25 in parts, and $70 for the saw and some blades. And now I can finally have my rear toe adjusted on my driver's side for the first time in I don't know how many years, yay! I have an alignment appointment on Monday.
 
Last edited:
Top