My sister has a 01 honda accord and she brought it to get a wheel alignment done. The tech said the upper ball joint is bad and needs to be replaced. The tech said it needs an adjustable upper ball joint. The tech said it will cost $300, so I am going to replace it for her. I remember back then replacing a upper ball joint on a mid 90's Honda and the upper ball joint was part of the control arm. I looked at a repair manual and it said, if the upper ball joint is bad, it can't be removed and the control needs to be replaced. This adjustable ball joint, will this be able to go into the factory control arm of a 01 honda accord? And why would the tech say it needs an adjustable ball joint? I know it is good for a car if it is lowered but my sister's car is not lowered at all.

 

on an oem upper control arm the ball joint is all one piece with the the wishbone shaped arm.
on an aftermarket control arm the ball joint can be removed and replaced without replacing the whole arm.
your camber may be out of spec due to a bent strut tower something else that is bent and in order to get it in spec an adjustable ball joint is necessary.

 

It must be a "magic" Honda ball joint. Majestic Honda wants 277.00 for just the upper control arm. Refer:

http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/jsp/mws/prddisplay.jsp?inputstate=5&catcgry1=ACCORD&catcgr y2=2001&catcgry3=2DR+LX&catcgry4=KA4AT&catcgry5=KN UCKLE

Unless he's talking about the MOOG line of replacement ball joints.

http://www2.partstrain.com/store/?Ntt=Ball%20Joint&N=1631%2010605+4294965397

How he determined that it needed an adjustable unit without checking the alignment is of interest.

P

 

good point. i didnt even think of that. i would take it somewhere else for a second opinion.

 

The upper control arm is 120. The knuckle is 277.