ok i finally got in my DOHC ZC and have it in, i ran into a few problems with the radiator (both the ones i had) but i am fixing that right now.

I am having a problem with the "castle" bolt screwing on. As some people know (i hope you can picture this) on the lower control arm there is a piece that slides in to the "O" on the arm. The part i have been told to refer to as the "castle" nut, but i am having one hell of a time tightening it. I understand it doesn't have to be 100% tightened just as long as the cotter pin goes through but all it does is turn. It isn't stripped so don't get me wrong...but i can't get the nut to go on far enough to put a cotter pin through.

So please help me with this asap. the sooner i fix this the sooner i can drive my car. Its gonna be the first time in 11 months WOOT....ok anyways thannks in advance

 

Ok thats it right there...how do i keep the little thing inside to keep from turning when i tighten the castle nut?

 

I noticed a similar problem and it is pretty difficult to fix. You may end up damaging the threads by trying to tighten it more. What is probably happening is the ball joint is worn out (or you've tightened it enough) and when you turn to tighten more, it spins around. You could try to get clamps to hold the bolt still while you tighten some more, or see if you have stripped threads. I don't recommend the former because you will end up having to cut the bolt off next time you want to remove your lower or upper control arm. To be honest, I think replacing the balljoint if it is in not so good condition is a good idea.

 

Nice shop, or is that a shop class?

 

ok how hard is it to replace the lower ball joint??

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ProjectCRXtacy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Nice shop, or is that a shop class?</TD></TR></TABLE> no its a borrowed pic... but thank you anyways. My CRX is sitting in front of my apartment up on jackstands waiting for the radiator then i can start up my ZC beast

 

Use a dremel. Cut a notch in the bottom so you can keep the ball joint from rotating with a screwdriver.
Don't go too deep with the notch, or else you'll mess up the hole that the cotter pin goes through.

 

how hard is it to change the joint? i have the same problem and would like to just change it

 

take the arm off put it in a vise and hammer it out and put the new one in lube it up and center it in the hole then take a 2x4 hammer it in evenly

 

is it really just that easy? i have heard horror storys about how hard it is...but either way i think its really cool that all you guys are ZC people, YAY for us

 

Unless the threads are really screwed up,you can usually zap
it a couple of times with a 3/8" drive impact and it will tighten up..

You can also try big channel-locks/vice-grips or a C-clamp to squeeze the joint together
while trying to tighten it..

Sometimes, it also helps to chase the threads with a 12mm x 1.25mm tap/die..

 

so i should squeeze it across the joint.....i can't do it up and down because then i can't get on the bolt...but side to side is what i think you are saying correct? I don't have access to air tools, so everything has to be done by hand and my little collection of hand tools. But i do have a C-clamp and have been trying to get that to work for me but so far with no luck with the up and down, or using a pair of wire-strippers to try and hold the bolt part still

 

Right,
try squeezing it at an angle so you can still get to the nut..

I have had enough head-aches with the ball-joint
that I just unbolt everything around it instead..
example:

 

put the car down on the ground put the lower ball joint in the lca.

dont let the call all the way down, but you want some weight on that ball joint.

get under the car and tighten it up. The weight of the car should prevent it from spinning.

 

ok i'll have to try both of those tomorrow when its light outside. Thank you everyone so much. I'll need to fill the tranny before i lower the car but i will definitly try all these aproaches to getting it back together

 

Good Luck

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HatchBox &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">put the car down on the ground put the lower ball joint in the lca.

dont let the call all the way down, but you want some weight on that ball joint.

get under the car and tighten it up. The weight of the car should prevent it from spinning. </TD></TR></TABLE>



That's similar to what I do.

I put a jack under there and lift up on the dic brake - like it was on the ground under load.

You should be torquing those nuts down to a spec... not just cranking them down to 'whatever' spec.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4drEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

That's similar to what I do.

I put a jack under there and lift up on the dic brake - like it was on the ground under load.

You should be torquing those nuts down to a spec... not just cranking them down to 'whatever' spec.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I tried that too but for some reason it didnt work, just kept spinning

Put it on the ground and tightend it pretty good then lifted it up and torqued it down.

 

i wish i could do it to spec but i don't have a torque wrench. All i know is that its very important that the correr pins go in there to keep the nut on

 

i think what i'm gonna do is use my jack and put some weight on the rotor so it'll hopefully stay put and i really hope that will work. If not then i'll start with the clamp and i'll do everything i can to have it stand still

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mr_valentino20032000 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is it really just that easy? i have heard horror storys about how hard it is...but either way i think its really cool that all you guys are ZC people, YAY for us </TD></TR></TABLE>

B16a owner here, but yay for the CRX.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HatchBox &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">put the car down on the ground put the lower ball joint in the lca.

dont let the call all the way down, but you want some weight on that ball joint.

get under the car and tighten it up. The weight of the car should prevent it from spinning. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Once I started reading this thread, I wondered how long it would take for the easy answer to come up: Gravity is your friend, unless you're drunk or your parachute doesn't open. The balljoint has a tapered shaft where it sits in the LCA, so what happens is, when the car is on the ground, the balljoint is ALWAYS seating itself tighter into the LCA. If you put the balljoint in the LCA and lower the car to the ground (don't forget to put the wheels on first!), the joint should start seating itself, at which point you should be able to tighten it easily without the balljoint spinning on you. You're letting your car be your "other hand" and hold that joint steady.

If the balljoint isn't feeling loose and/or graunchy and wobbly right now, and the rubber boot isn't torn or split, the balljoint should still be good. I've never had to replace one, but it doesn't look like it would be fun. It can be a big enough pain in the *** just to get them to pop out of the knuckle (and that's IF you've got the right tool for it!) - I don't even wanna know what it would take to get it to un-*** itself from the LCA! I'm sure I'll find out one day, though, whether I want to or not...

Mike

 

I had the same problem with mine when I was putting everything together after replacing the tranny. First thing I thought was to load the joint with resistance by lowering the car to the ground (Like HatchBox's example). Didn't work.

What I ended up doing is just getting a set of needle nose vice grips, and clamping the nose over the dust boot so it clamps on the bolt. Keep the grips clamped on it while you tighten, and if you're clamping tight enough the rod shouldn't turn. Also, from my personal experience it didn't damage the dust boot in the least.

Give it a try, worked for me.


Modified by dubzz24 at 7:18 PM 1/31/2005

 

cool thanks to the both of you ... the boot is torn and sightly leaking, but i can't afford to fix it right now. But there is no play in it any direction.

 

If it's already torn then don't worry about it. Get some needle nose vice grips and get at 'er.