2000 Honda CRV Honda CRV struts extremely stiff

CVJOINT2

MEMBER
2000 HONDA CRV

After rebuilding the whole front suspension on my crv the car all of sudden rides extremely stiff. I used the same struts because they were ok but after replacing everything with oem parts this was a big unwanted surprise and am wondering how the heck could I have damaged the struts for them to stiffen up. I lifted the car up today by a lower control arm and also by the frame rails to check it out some more and found out that when I let the weight of the lower control arm the suspension would drop extremely slowly so much so that when I release the hydraulic pressure of the jack the suspension would lower at a pace of a moving snail.
Please would you any idea what happened here and is there way to get my strut working correctly again

Many thanks

2 Replies

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,815 POSTS

Hi cvjoint2,

I take it to mean that you have replaced all the control arm bushes.

Try loosening the lower control arm brackets with wheel on the floor, ie u need to crawl under to do it. Retighten the brackets. This is to allow the bushes to be seated at the normal riding position.

Does the suspension response easily if you try to lift the front and is stiff when bumping it downwards?

Check if both sides are similar.

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Wednesday, March 17th, 2021 AT 12:48 PM

CVJOINT2

MEMBER
2 POSTS

After I rebuilt the suspension I preloaded it before tightening everything up. Anyhow the car rode as if though it had no suspension at all. I have a very hard time believing the bushings would be capable of withholding close to a 1000 pounds of pressure. SO What I did is= (I was afraid to ride the car like this) I drilled the struts, which got rid of the problem, now even though I can drive the car Ill have to replace the struts no mater what. But at least now can go over bumps without the fear of snapping a control arm. It looks as if though the struts went bad just because they extended its full range of motion. I never removed the spring from the assembly. As far the supsension compressing im not sure how well it compressed but you have to take the weight of the car maybe during the lifting of the car from its control arm it wasnt noticeable however, I dared not to go over a bump at high speed. It was a jarring ride. In other words I doubt it compressed easily. Releasing the jack from under control arm (while car supported by frame) hit me with a big surprise too.
The suspension would drop slower to the bottom then a hydraulic jack.

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Wednesday, March 17th, 2021 AT 12:48 PM