[Run Away]

Rear suspension binding

EDIT: I've installed everything and now the car's rear suspenion is really stiff. See posts later on.

Can anybody tell me which way the little curve is supposed to face?

I'm putting my suspension back together and when I go to bolt in the lower control arms the inner end (that bolts to the subframe) is about 1.5" too far forwards (to the front of the car).

I tried both arms and both do that. Any suggestions?

I can force it into place but it doesn't seem right.

 

[BryanK20]

suspension bent? post pics if you can. that'll help us all

 

[solo-x]

They should be marked left and right, but even if they aren't, the swaybar bolts to the front of the control arm. If your arms have the mounts for the swaybar, those bolt holes should point to the front of the car. If you don't have those mounts, then it doesn't matter which side of the car the arm goes on. If you lay the arms on the ground on the bushing faces, the inner and outer bushing both touch the ground at the same time. Just pull the arm back to line it up with the subframe.

FWIW, I always install the lca into the subframe first, then line it up with the shock and trailing arm after. Works real slick because I can then use the jack to hold the lca up.

 

[Run Away]

The shop manuals show them towards the fron, which is the way I have it....

Both sides are equally out, so probably once I get the weight of the car on the suspension things will even out.

No sway bar, it's a DX.

I'd post pics but I'm at school with the car and I don't have a cable for my camera.

 

[CrazyConscious]

I thinkn your right. Once you get weight on the suspension they should move in.

If you are talking about the rear controll arm, I had to stand on the drum to get it to line up on my 98 civic.

 

[Run Away]

Okay here are the pics:

It was like that on both sides. We basically just had 2 big guys push as hard as we could and got everything to bolt up.

All buttoned up.

Seems to sit fine and bouncing the rear seems to take a normal amount of force, I don't think there's any binding.

Just need to do an alignment then I'll take it for a spin.


Every single bushing in the rear suspension is new.

 

[DirtyDC4]

Just need to do an alignment then I'll take it for a spin.

Then car wash!!!!!

 

[Run Away]

lol, it's not even that bad.
I'm actually pretty pissed at the car and have lost interest in it...ran into so many obstacles and stuff needing serious surgery to fix that I want to move to something newer, with less rust and ghetto-ass repairs done by previous owners.

Result of ghetto fixes:

That was after we grinded down some studs that had been welded to the sheetmetal.

My fix:

I mean, I just spent over $1000 on new bushings, control arms, brake stuff, wheel hubs and I've got nothing to show for it.
Still a 92hp rusty civic with high mileage.

 

[Run Away]

Alright so I installed everything and aligned the car.

It rides really rough and bouncy. The rear end of the car is very stiff. It's especially noticable when going over speedbumps, the front one rolls over niceley then the rear goes over and sends everything in the cargo area flying. It's quite stiff.

Obviously whatever was causing me problems trying to get everything together is now making the suspension bind.

Problem is, I don't know what could possibly be wrong.

What I changed:

-Energy Suspension poly bushings on the LCAs, both inner and outer ends.

-OEM Honda trailing arm bushings. Installed with the long end towards the inside. Part number: 52385-SR3-000

-OEM Honda compensator arms, both sides. Part number: 52341-SJ4-000

-OEM Honda upper arms, both sides. Part numbers: 52400-SR3-000 & 52390-SR0-A00


When re-installing, I had all arms already bolted to the trailing arm assembly. I bolted up the upper arms first, then the compensator arm, then the trailing arm bushing bracket, then the lower control arm.
My trouble was with the lower control arm. The inner ends with everything else bolted up were positioned an inch or so away from it's place in the subframe, towards the front of the car. Both sides were out of alignment equally.

I hightly doubt anything is bent because 1) from a visual inspection everthing was very straight 2) both sides did the exact same thing, equally. So if something was bent, then something on both sides was bent, equally.

The replacement parts I received seem to be the right ones, holding up the old ones beside the new ones shows them all to be the same length.

So help me out guys, what the heck could possibly causing this?

Pictures if they help any:

 

[Run Away]

Well I solved it if anyone uses this in future searches...

It was because I torqued everything down with the suspension hanging, I loosened everything and tightened it up again with the weight of the car on the suspension and it rides a hundred times better.

 

[CrazyConscious]

Good job!