davey5300

First of all Props to Crx 91Si and to the maker of the Honda painless ball joint removal video on Youtube.
I watched the video and the tried it out myself and it was sooo easy and painless. So much better then beating the control arm with a hammer or struggling with a 2 jaw puller.
I do it a little different from the video, but it's still the same thing. This was done on a 94 EX, but should apply to any car using the same suspension system.

Tools needed: 19mm and 17mm (x2) Wrenches, 1/2" drive wrench, Hydraulic jack, and jack stand

1: The obvious: loosen up the lug nuts for the wheel with the 19mm, then jack up the car. Make sure the E-brake is up, and the tranny is in reverse (or park if it's auto) then remove the wheel and place the jack stand underneath and lower and remove the jack. MAKE SURE THE CAR IS STURDY.




2: pull out the Cotter pin thats goes thru the Castle nut and stud of the lower ball joint, then Unbolt the nut with the 17mm. Important: When your breaking the nut lose, make sure that you get the wrench on the nut perfectly straight, or the wrench can slip and stripe the nut. It's a little tough because of the position.



3: now take the jack and position it underneath the rotor, then jack it up. It will jack up the knuckle. keep an eye on the jack stand to make sure that ur not jacking up the whole car.


4: now check out the gap between the lower control arm and the knuckle


what you want to do it is slide the 1/2" drive wrench into that gap, and get it in there as tight as you can. if you must Raise or lower the jack a tiny bit till it's in there snugged



5: Double check that the car is sturdy. Now Release all the pressure from the jack and let the knuckle drop down HARD. You should hear a nice SNAP sound, and the Wrench should fall.

6: raise the knuckle again and check to see if the joint separated


It should separates on the first try If it didn't then try again. Make sure you're using a 1/2" drive wrench, and make sure it's slipped in the gap tight, and make sure ur letting the jack drop as hard as possible. But keep doing it till it separates

7: before you lower the jack again, remove the thu bolt that connects the shock to the lower control arm. it's a 17mm bolt, and a 17mm nut. so you'll need two 17mm


Very Easy. Give it a try the next time your changing Axles, or Dropping the Tranny, or H22 Swap, or what ever you're doing.

djkurious

Wonderful write up! I did this last night and it worked like a champ first try.

Looks cold...

davey5300

Thanks! I Just tried it out for the first time too. I've never been able to separate the joint before, and Now one try..snap! Yeah it was snowing while I was doing it, and pop won't let me use the garage anymore

canteengreen

your a sav, out there in the snow like that!

TouringAccord

nice write up

I've added it to the FAQ sticky

crx_91si

good **** man!

redbull-1

Very good and detailed write-up, with safety warnings. I seen the you-tube video a long time ago; but, this is more detailed.

cutsforth693doa

Wow talk about makin life easy. One shot. Normally takes me like an hour to get a ball joint off. now seconds...

ThaHondaMan

great write up! this is very useful.

MAD_MIKE

I use a 12mm Craftsman 3/8" drive deep socket.
Unbolt the sway bar endlink so it does not constrain the suspension, this allows you to really raise up the knuckle, then tap in the 12mm socket and release the jack.

Hammering and pickle forks are for the birds.
Thanks again Davey.

holmesnmanny

I just use this

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/acc...er=555631_0_0_

domano 68

Great idea!