This is urgent because I started this morning right before noon, and now I have to leave my car outside on jack stands over night. I live in an apartment, and my neighborhood isn't exactly Beverley Hills if you know what I mean. So I want to get this job done first thing tomorrow and be able to get to work on monday.

I am currently in the process of replacing the front lower control arm bushing on the driver side of my 2002 civic lx. In order to remove the control arm, I have to take off the wheel hub. But there's a place that's dented in at the axle nut (see picture). It's suppose to be like that to prevent the nut from rotating, but the last genius who dented this did an incredibly thorough job. My chisel was only chipping away the metal, not bending it. When I tried to use a smaller screwdriver to get in there, the tip of the screwdriver broke off in there. Without removing this nut, I can't take off the hub, and thus can't access the ball joint on the inside, which is hooked to the control arm. This is not a big deal right now, because I can still get to the front bushing (see 2nd pic). But I would like to replace the ball joint while I'm at it, because it's probably ready to retire as well.

Now, as for the bushing, I don't have power tools, so I'm using the contraption in the picture along with a wrench and a ratchet to tighten the bolt and push the bushing in there. However, everytime I do this, the bushing starts to get slanted. I haven't applied any lube or anything like that in the control arm. But what can I do to make this damn thing go in the right way?

PIC 1: http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/us...tml?sort=3&o=1
PIC 2: http://s1343.beta.photobucket.com/us...tml?sort=3&o=0

note: pic 1 does not show the piece of the flat screw driver that broke off. Also, pic 2 shows the contraption that I used to try to get the old bushing out. But the thing kept getting slanted, so I had to find another way. But the old bushing is out, and I need to put the new one in.
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Lastly, and I realize this post is becoming a little ridiculous... But when I took off the wheel, (before I took off the calipers) I noticed that the brake pads were rubbing against the hub. Also, the wheel hub wasn't turning very easily. Is this normal?

 

Well to start off with the bushings they going to be an a** to take off but its due able. To put the new bushing on, its really really hard to put on. Make sure you use the arrows that r in the bushings to line up with the markings that r on the control ARM. I just took it to a mechanic so they can compress it in there but I really do suggest to get it compress. They charged me 20 to put on the bushings.
And for the ball joint u don't have to take off the rotors off at all. There's a nut under the ARM where the ball joint is at behind the rotors. U could use a ball joint remover or do what I did put the nut to the edge of the screw n then hit it with a hammer a couple of times n it should pop out.

 

yea the problem with hitting the arm with a hammer is that it's really bad for the ball joint. And like I said, the axle nut on the hub is knocked in there so tight I can't get it loose, so I can't remove the hub and gain access to the ball joint. But I got it done without having to remove it.

But I am probably going to have to replace the ball joint later, does anyone know if I can replace the ball joint without having to remove the control arm? It was a huge pain in the *** to get the arm back in place, and I don't want to do it again unless I absolutely have to.