Hi everyone,

I have a 2003 4dr Accord EX, 2.4L MT. I bought it from a relative in 2009. Prior to selling it to me, he had lowered the car with aftermarket struts and koni shocks.

Several months ago, my wife ran over a curb with the car, and I noticed clunking noises coming from the wheel wells. I assumed that the struts had been damaged or become worn, but I put off changing them.

A few days ago, my wife was driving the car when she heard a loud bang come from the front left wheel well and then a lot of loud rattling and clunking. When I took a look later, I discovered that the self-locking nut on the strut assembly had somehow come off, and the top of the damper had descended below the upper mount. Basically, the wheel on that side was riding on the spring.

So I decided to change that strut. Here's where my being a noob got me into trouble. I removed the bolt connecting the damper fork to the control arm (without first compressing hte spring), and as a result, the bottom of the damper shot down and is now wedged against the axle below it. I cannot remove the strut because the damper is still attached to the damper fork, and the fork is straddling the axle. I've tried compressing the spring so that I could lift the bottom of the damper out of the fork (the bottom of the damper needs to come up about 1.5-2" to clear the fork), but the spring won't compress enough. Any ideas?

I can post some pics in a bit if it would help.

 

You will need to compress the spring.

Do you have those ratcheting tie-down straps? I used two of them to successfully compress a spring.

 

I have a couple here in the garage if it ever happens to me...But I'm sure it wont..

Good Afternoon.
WheelBrokerAng