2000 civic. If my rear LCA bolts are seized and I have to cut them out with a sawsall, I anticipate having to break off the nuts that are welded to the frame (Inner LCA bolt) and the trailing arm (Outer LCA bolt).

Will removing those nuts seriously mess up my alignment or cause any other problems?

am replacing shocks so I dont care about the weld nuts on those....

 

have you tried pbblaster or heat?

 

I haven't done the work yet.

My question is, if I cut off the weld nuts, is my alignment fubar?

 

if you are just replacing the shocks heres what i would do. DO NOT TOUCH THE LCA OUTTER BOLTS AT ALL..... it is not needed. heres what you do remove the 2 bolts that hold the upper bracket to the car itself, not the bolt and bushing on the spindle itself because it could be seized as well. but the upper 2 bolts will never seize so you can simply unbolt the 2 bolts and then with the shock unbolted from the car then have a friend step hard on the spindle itself to force the whole assembly down and when they are steping on it or what not you pull the spring out from the car. and to reinstal the new struts simply do the same to get it back in! it makes is SO MUCH EASIER and you dont have to worry about the seized bolts!
thats how i did it on my old 99 civic since my bushings where seized and i didnt want to mess with it and i figured out that if ya push down on the spindle hard enough you can move it just enough to be able to remove the strut. and i did that by myself so it was alittle hard to do both at the same time.lol so if you have a friend that would make it alot easier!

also when replacing any suspension parts ALWAYS GET A ALIGNMENT! a alignment is cheaper than one tire! just drive the car at least a few days if not a week and then get the alignment if replacing the springs. that will give the springs time to settle to get a better alignment for your ride. if just replacing struts i would just wait a day and it should be fine to get a alignment since you are reusing stock springs.

 

boiler1, I re-read your original post and realized that you are trying to replace the shocks/struts. I did those for my 98 and did not have to mess with the LCA or trailing arm at all. download the factory service manual from my signature and you'll see the procedure. The back ones are pretty easy. I'm pretty sure that it'll mess with your alignment; not worth the consequences when you don't need to do that.

addiction got it right in his post though I'm not 100% sure I can picture everything he wrote, but even if you took the normal route of loaning a spring tool, the rear ones are very easy to do.

 

you this the upper camber arm. its the 2 bolts that hold it to the car you simply remove.


no spring compressor needed to get the strut off the car.
once you have that camber arm unbolted from the main car simply step on the whole spindle assembly to push it down afew inches and that should give you enough room to pull out the whole strut from the top.
VERY QUICK EASY! dont even mess with those outter LCA bolts and such! those can be a real PITA its best to bypass them all together