So on my passengers side I have a real bothersome pop that occurs when I take off and when I hit bumps. Being told that the problem is with the upper ball joint, I looked at it but don't really know if it is bad or not. That is where you all come in. Is this ball joint in need of replacement?





Modified by Ltsmith05 at 1:42 PM 12/17/2006

 

that does look kinda old.. coudl need a replacement.. but at least its not hard to do it. just costs alot. unless you just get new ball joints pressed in.

 

Jack up the car, take your hands and put them at 12-6 on the wheel. Shake back and forth. If it shakes, you have a bad ball joint. Pretty sure the Honda Spec is very very low, so just replace it.

 

wile your at it put your hands at 3 and 9 and if that moves you need new tie rods

 

place a pry bar in the coil spring, and the top on upper balljoint and apply pressure downwards off and on, see if the joint axial play.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by janz3n &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that does look kinda old.. coudl need a replacement.. but at least its not hard to do it. just costs alot. unless you just get new ball joints pressed in.</TD></TR></TABLE>

you dont get a new joint pressed in.. You have to replace the whole piece balljoint and that circle thing its attached too.

Easy to change once you get that one apart.. Just takes some time and tinkering, new ones arent much eaither, just go aftermarket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ltsmith05 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So on my passengers side I have a real bothersome pop that occurs when I take off and when I hit bumps. </TD></TR></TABLE>

could be a lot of other things like loose subframe/crossmember or engine mounts.

everyone else is correct in checking balljoints.

 

I'm getting the bothersome pop too, and heres another kicker. When I drive down the road and apply gas, the car pulls to the right, but when I let off it pulls to the left. I look like I am driving drunk whenever I go anywhere because the car is unpredictable.

Anyone else have that happen to them, and if so is it a balljoint problem? I just replaced both tie rods.

 

Here's how to check your balljoints....jack your car up. Put some jackstands under it. Then grab the top and bottom of your tires and shake. If you can detect any movement (even a tiny bit) then you need new balljoints. You can't tell by looking at a balljoint if it's bad or not. But your's do look incredibly old so it'd probably be cheap insurance to replace them.

As far as the popping noise, check your radius rod bushing. Bad balljoints generally don't make noise they just break and screw up your car.

 

I've done the whole 3/9 and 6/12 shake deal and when the car is jacked I get nothing at either (no audible noise) but when the car is one the ground, and I pull on the front tire it makes a consistent pop. I'm gonna give the motor mounts an once over too b/c I've kinda always been suspicious about one of them being bad (I have a lot of vibration from the passengers side front, even before the pop).

Found this on Ebay too http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...photo

Anyone dealt with these people.


Modified by Ltsmith05 at 1:26 PM 12/18/2006