I hit a curb and I ordered a new lower control arm for the passenger side. I realize I will need an alignment after this, but my question is .. I'm a novice with a Helms. Is the lower control arm replacement a task I can accomplish with a friend or should I pay the $100-150 to get it put in. Thanks!


oh 1993 Honda Prelude Si

 

you can do it yourself, its easy if you have the tools.

 

i just went through this except i hit a divider.

take off the wheel. the main bar that comes out from underneath the rotor with everything connected to it.. thats the LCA. basically you take out all the bolts. and then replace all the bolts. i tried doing it at home on jack stands.. but i just wasnt strong enough to take off teh bolts. the air tools and lift at my friends place helped a ton.

i guess if you can get off the bolts, the only trip up you may have is with the ball joint (part directly under the rotor). there are some ideas in the archives of the competition forum of a jack/dropjack trick where you place the end of the ratchet in there and it pops out. but since we had it on a lift and all we just used a big ******* hammer to the side of the LCA to jaw things loose.


[Modified by illusion, 4:41 PM 11/13/2002]

 

How can you tell if your lower control arm or ball joint is damaged? My car pulls slightly to the right on acceleration and slightly to the left on deceleration. After I put in the lsd (Phantom Grip), it was OK, but several potholes later, it started pulling. The driver's side CV boot started leaking grease, but the boot is OK, no cuts. Now the car makes noise on right hand turns (CV joints) after I put in GNK CV joints /axles. Do I have a lsd problem or was the ball joint damaged with the lsd intallation? I had the front end aligned after the lsd and CV joint installation.