chibiko

I tried to replace the inner CV boot but cannot separate the front lower arm and the ball joint. Tried a two arms puller bought from harbor freight and supprisingly, the puller broke. Also tried to hammer the ball-joint end with the nut on and it didn't work either. Maybe it is because I dare not use enough force to hammer it. But anyone can recommend a suitable puller to do this job.

Ross 2.0

just beat the crap out of it with a 3lb hammer. pickle forks always break the boot

chibiko

Am I right to tap the ball joint tip with the nut on it? The problem using hammer is that the space is too tight and the hammer cannot fly enough to get the moment.

hondadude

No don't hit the ball joint stud

Hit the lower control arm at the point where the stud passes thru it. the ball joint stud is taper fit and you have to break loose the tension.
just loosen the nut but leave it on the stud in case your hammer swing goes wild, you won't mess up the threads.
You can turn the steering to get more swinging room

I just can't imagine a harbor freight tool breaking. LOL

lowered94accord

ive always used a ball joint seperator and its always worked then again if your ball joint boots arent busted already I dont recommend using it because it will bust them...DO NOT hit the stud with the tap on it...trust me I did this once to try to get it loose..well it worked but then once I get everything put back together it stripped the stud a bit and the tap just slid off of it and everything fell to the ground...not a good feeling trust me lol

chibiko

My car 97 accord F22b2. Do I need to remove the damper fork before I separate the lower arm from the ball joint? The service manual (both the hynes and the shop manual) said that, but another DIY (http://www.hondaaccordforum.com/m_16964/tm.htm) said no need to do that. Which one is correct?


Modified by chibiko at 7:23 PM 5/15/2007

JimBlake

I've separated the lower ball joint without removing the shock fork.

Try some PB Blaster or Kroil or something like that, let it soak.

Nathan007

I've gotten lucky by using a fat sledgehammer and using brute force. Of course it can be scary to break something, but i was lucky. And it worked (just when i was getting ready to abandon)

CBL9

The thread is a few weeks old sorry. But I am in the middle of doing the lower balljoint drivers side on my CB7 (1993). I have the castle nut off, and the pickle fork is all the way in there and nothing is budging. Should I take a sledge hammer to the lower control arm? And possibly to the pickle fork? Those seem like my only two options. I do not want to crack loose the bolt holding the suspenion fork though, that has 200K miles of upstate NY rust on it. Hitting the lower control arm seems like the only thing that will give me the appropirate leverage.

jweller

Sledge hammer the hell outta it.

CBL9

Well I have been hitting it with the sledge. The bottom part of the ball joint and the threads are seized into the lower control arm. The top part of the ball joint is stuck in the spindle? And there is about 2 centimeters of play in between the ball joint where it is basically broken in two. WTF do I do now??????

JDM_DC4_Fanatic

theres 3 easy ways to do it.

1) use a pickel fork and slam it home.
2) hit the CONTROL ARM from the side(perpendicular to the balljoint)
3) Use a long prybar or pipe and a chain and press down. (secure the chain around the LCA and press down on the prybar and it will pop out.

I recommend #2. Its the easiest and wont harm anything.
#1 will ruin the balljoint 99% of the time
#3 requires a some things that people dont anways have lying around their house, unlike a shop.

SuperSlow

For the lower control arm, the easiest and by far safest way to separate it is:

1. put car on jack stands
2. put jack under brake rotor (put screw driver in rotor to keep it from spinning) and raise the whole unit.
3. Take ratchet and stick handle in the opening between LCA and knuckle
4. lower the jack so the ratchet handle is stuck in there
5. stomp on the top of the brake rotor until LCA is free.

as the ball joint bolt is a taper fit, and the distance between the LCA and knuckle get smaller under decompression of suspension, the ratchet will force the LCA to pop loose.

I have done this every single time on accords/prelude/civics when doing axles, coilovers, hub-over-rotor brake work etc. It works better than the pickle forks which often damage the boot, and the 2/3/4/5/6 arm pullers which never seem to work for me. It is also satisfying to stomp on something.

Good luck.

CBL9

As for the condition of the ball joint I do not care as I am replacing it, not just needing to seperate it for easier access to work on other things near the hub. I am trying to get the old ball joint out of the lower control arm. I think I need someone to list the steps of REPLACING the ball joint as I am missing something clearly. The haynes manual does not go into detail at all about it, it says take it to a professional, or something like that, which is not cool.

Any advice?

jweller

replacing the ball joint is the easy part. Once you have the steering knucke out, put it in a vice upside down. then just put a large socket over the end of the ball joint and hammer it out. It will help to remove the boot first. If it resists, heat up the knuckle around the ball joint but not the ball joint itself. the idea is to get the knuckle to expand a little bit. To install the new one, you just use a ball joint press, which you cen rent from auto zone, you just have to put down a deposit.

the whole thing took me like 30 mins once the knuckle was out of the car

FSBxtreme

or another quick trick I learned while replacing my suspension is you use a hydraulic jack and place the jack point on the ball joint end with the nut(to protect the thread but leave enough room between the nut and the control arm so the ball joint can move). Jack it up enough height where you can insert a 10mm wrench "end" (the C shape end) into the gap where the ball joint and the control arm(next to the ball joint boot). Put in it in good(not loose), a light tap with hammer will make go in easily. Once the wrench is in place, you do a sudden release on the hydraulic jack and it will pop the ball joint out. Works everytime for me with no banging.

DCFIVER

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondadude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">No don't hit the ball joint stud

Hit the lower control arm at the point where the stud passes thru it. the ball joint stud is taper fit and you have to break loose....</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is by far the easiest method. Sometimes you need to put a prybar between the arm and the ball joint as you are hitting it. dont be a girl ,wack that thing hard. it will come loose guranteed...

FSBxtreme

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by cb7-R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

This is by far the easiest method. Sometimes you need to put a prybar between the arm and the ball joint as you are hitting it. dont be a girl ,wack that thing hard. it will come loose guranteed...</TD></TR></TABLE>

When you jack up your car, the shock will get fully extended and since it's connected to the the damper fork to the lower control arm, you cannot hit it down further. My suggestion is to lift it up a bit so that not only your banging will help, your shock will help push it down too.

wrenchy

I completely rebuilt the entire suspension on my 94 last year. Read this (another site) and tried it- IT WORKS! Get a medium size pittman-arm puller (shaped like a "U" with slightly turned in ends). Part I got is Autozone "OEM" brand #27022. Just so dimensioned it fits/pops every single balljoint end even works for the balljoints/tierods on my Avalon! Cost me $22. Claimed to work for 94-97 Accords, I believe. Been popping joints for 30+ years- this is the SLICKEST suspension tool I have ever found for my Accord! If the BOTTOM return "legs" are sligtly too thick (for other years) to clear the boots, just remove some material (thin the legs) with a good precision grinder- Wrenchy