Well, Murphy struck again, and I have my '90 4-door up on stands again. (installed the clutch release bearing spring wrong and it failed. Easy enough to fix.) However, I noticed that the lower ball joints on the steering knuckles were starting to go, so I opted to swap them while I had the half-shafts out. I had to remove a metal ring that the parts manual describes as a "dust shield" to swap the ball joints. I wound up trashing them pretty badly, so I went looking for them both online and at the local wrecking yard... only to find that NO ONE has them. Honda doesn't make 'em, no aftermarket suppliers for them, and not even the wrecks at the local Pick'n'Pull had any. Most unusual...

This has left me with two questions:
1. Are the dust shields actually doing anything useful, i.e. what happens when I drive without them?
2. Why are they missing on every single car in the junkyard, without fail?

 

If you mean #3 in the picture below, I've been without the one on my passenger side for about 14 years. No negative effects from not having it that I've noticed.

 

No, I've still got both of those, if somewhat battered. The part I'm asking about is part #2 in the following schematic:

It's PN 44348-SH3-000: Ring, FR. Knuckle.

 

I know what you mean and no you really don't need them. It's nice to have if you still have OE kind of axle joints, like raxles .

Typical cheap aftermarket axles interfere with them because they're made for other cars so they're often removed .

No big deal. It's difficult to press them back in anyway. You need a coffee can or something the right diameter to evenly press it in.

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Using Napa remanufactured units right now. Used the same type for 10 years or so before the boot failed. Joint was perfectly fine.
Good to hear they're not needed. I can now happily put the front end back together. :D

 

Boy have I had my troubles with #2 as well. Mine was lose and rubbing and squealing. I think Tyson actually saved me years ago too.

 

I'd say if you don't do a lot of dirt road driving or driving through deep water the bearings should be fine. My shields were beat up a bit when I redid my suspension. But I was able to clean, repaint and reinstall them. I bet the junk yards do have them but they don't know because many times the shields are badly corroded and stuck on the hub.

 

take em off unless your doing an oem resto/oem reliabilty build you sould be inspecting your old car all the time at every corner anyways=] the less **** the better