Smb42069

Ok, so this is not the first time i've had to do a ball joint on one of these, however i have not had one fight me like this one. Previously i just pulled the arm off and brought it into work and used the hydraulic press. Its the drivers side and to access the right side c-arm mount bolt theres next to no room to swing a ratchet. So opted for the loan a tool press kit thinkin id pop it out still mounted. No such luck. Its difficult to get the press straight up into the ball joint, which may be part of the problem. I get it straight but with a wrench and leverage bar with enough pressure the ball joint wants to go crooked before budging. Sprayed her down with a good penetrating oil and left the press on it overnight, still no luck.
Any advice on how to operate the press kit(tricks to keeping it perfectly straight) or how to get at the right side bolt? Very frustrating failing so bad on something so simple.
Thanks

Oh yeah 98civic ex. Yes i made sure there wasnt a retaining clip.

jlpenn85

You can't even buy the upper ball joint from Honda. They only sell the whole upper control arm. You might be able to buy new ones from Moog or some other aftermarket company, I'm not sure. I would just replace the upper arm though, you're most likely going to bend the arm trying to press out the old ball joint.

Smb42069

Got it right at autozone for $20. They do come out. Ive done it without damaging the arm. The integra didnt have as much stuff in the way so popping the arm off was easy. The civic i did was on the pass side, also easy.
Getting the whole control arm is an option. Theyre around $50+ tho. I can get a ratchet on the bolt im talkin about from the top, not enough room to move it tho with messing with the slave cyl resevoir and some other stuff.

Smb42069

I shouldve said the integra had a diff setup. They went up into the body where as the civic bolts go through the side.

kyden

ratcheting wrench.

Smb42069

I ended up finding another thread on here that listed the honda adaptor kit from autozone. Went and got that and it pressed out nicely. Wouldve been nice if the counter guy at autozone gave me that when i rented the press tool and bought the ball joint, so he knew it was for a honda. Oh well got it anyway. Thanks for ur help...