Suspension Help Fast!!!

[T-Mo]

Here are some pics of the trouble I am having. I don't know what it is called but, it came loose while I was driving today. I know it is a little nasty down there. I just had both axles replaced recently. It looks like 2 bolts held it in place. What should I do? By the way this is the Prelude, if it mattered.





Will the bolts out of my civic fit into this. I won't be putting the civic on the road for another month or so anyways?

[crxlvr]

looks like the sway bar to me, im not sure if the civic bolts will fit in there either.

[T-Mo]

bump, bump, bump

[1PhatCX]

looks like the sway bar to me too

[T-Mo]

If it is they sway bar, does anyone know the size of the bolt? I need the bolts because one is missing and the other is stripped.

[4-Door Flunky]

Hey, T-Mo!
It doesn't matter what you call that bar, you still need those bolts. The head of the bolt is 17mm. Get yourself to a junkyard. These bolts are the same on every Honda I know of from 88 to 90-something. Find a junker, bring your 17mm socket, ratchet, and extension (and maybe a 17mm wrench) and pull 'em yourself off of just about any Civic, Accord, whatever. (Hey! Get an extra, just in case you strip the threads..)
I lost one of those when I was replacing my clutch, and I got the replacement at a salvage yard for fifty cents.
The tricky part is putting them back in. You have get both of them stuck in the holes before you try to pull the bar down to the place where they bolt up. If you don't stick them both in the holes before you tighten the first one up, the axle is in the way and you can't get the second one in the hole.
Now here's my secret trick. The part of the bar with the holes is flat. To get that bar down just where it needs to be, you have to flex it, twist it just a little bit before it's lined up where you can get the first couple of threads started. I put a big crescent wrench ON THE FLAT PART OF THE BAR, and I use that as my lever to twist.
I can put 'em in by myself, but if you've got a helper to do the twisting while the other person tries to get the bolt started, it's lots easier.
I use a 17MM deep socket with an extension on it to tighten up one of those bolts. There's a tricky way to line it up which you'll just have to figure out, but you can use your ratchet on one of them.
The second bolt, the one under the axle, can only be reached by a 17mm wrench. Use lots and lots of patience, and you can get it tightened up in about 15 minutes.
So, get your bolts, and you can have 'em back in in 15 minutes if you do it right.
Flunky
PS-Wow. It took like 500 words to explain something I could have shown you in 5 seconds.

[T-Mo]

Thanks alot. I fixed it yesterday. Instead of pulling the bar down, I jacked up the wheel hub. It worked out perfectly. I took a screw off of a Accord. No more wobbling wheel for me. It did take all of 2 minutes to fix. I just couldn't explain to my B/F what was wrong cause I did not know what it was called. He has his own shop and was trying to help me over the phone. I did not want to get it towed to him. Thanks though.

P.S. I still don't know what it is called.

[Melt]

Originally posted by T-Mo
Thanks alot. I fixed it yesterday. Instead of pulling the bar down, I jacked up the wheel hub.

when we replaced the axle on my freinds accord that part was the hardest to get it to line up ... eventually we did though and it was fine.

First we tried a breaker bar


so then we used the jack and improvised


And yes, that is someones residentail house with a lift in the garage.

[4-Door Flunky]

Way to go, T-Mo!
Wow! The jacking UP instead of pulling DOWN will be my next trick!
Thanks!
Flunky
PS-You said this was on a Prelude? It looked like you had lots more room to work in than I have on my civic. I'll bet you didn't have that problem of having to get both bolts in the hole. I got my first one in and tightened before I discovered the second one wouldn't go. I hate having to backtrack...