Are there any tricks to seperating an accord's lower ball joint? I'm working on taking the front rotors off of my 94-95 ex sedan and it looks as though I need to take the axle out to get 4 bolts out of the back before it'll come apart. I can't get to 1 of them though because the axle isn't all the way out and I'm not quite sure what else to try.

I've jumped on it, i've layed a 1/2 inch on its side, etc. etc. but the sucker won't budge! If there is any easier way to get the rotor out will someone PLEASE let me know!

 

they make a special ball joint seperator tool that you have to ratchet to seperate the ball joint. They should have it at Autozone to rent or any autoparts store. Just tell them what you need and if they know anything they should get it for you.

You might want to rent the hub seperator too much easier than using a hammer.

 

Loosen the castle nut some but leave it at the bottom of the threads to protect them. Then take a small sledge hammer (a.k.a. baby sledge) and hit the small nub, for lack of better words, on the side of the lower control arm right where the ball joint goes through. You'll know what I'm talking about when you look at the LCA. A couple good hits should drop the LCA. I do it that way so I don't damage the ball joint boot like a pickle fork would. If that fails, you could rent a pickle fork from AZ but then you would need to replace the boot since that will almost always get ripped open.

technine:
I assume your referring to the tool like the one shown in the service manuals? The AZ's around here don't carry tools like that. They only have pickle forks. I know because I've looked. When I was looking though, I think someone pointed me to JCWhittney. I think it was JC Whittney, they had one for sale on there site.


Also Atheist, here is a good thread to look through if you haven't already.

1997 Accord Brake Tutorial
Applies to all 90-97 Accord front brakes.

 

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

technine:
I assume your referring to the tool like the one shown in the service manuals? The AZ's around here don't carry tools like that. They only have pickle forks. I know because I've looked. When I was looking though, I think someone pointed me to JCWhittney. I think it was JC Whittney, they had one for sale on there site.


Also Atheist, here is a good thread to look through if you haven't already.

1997 Accord Brake Tutorial
Applies to all 90-97 Accord front brakes.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, I was talking about that tool in the manual. That sucks, over here they have a lot of different specialty tools, I've rented a few.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by technine &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yes, I was talking about that tool in the manual. That sucks, over here they have a lot of different specialty tools, I've rented a few.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wish. That would be nice.

I've thought about buying one since they don't damage the boot and you don't have to worry about hitting the ball joint threads with a hammer.