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Car Forum / Honda Cars / June 2006Left Upper Control Arm Replacement
The ball joint on the upper left control arm on my 92 Accord is bad and needs to be replaced, the control arm that is. I'm considering doing this myself. Has anyone one out there ever replaced on? Any comments on how hard it is to do? Thanks > The ball joint on the upper left control arm on my 92 Accord is bad and > needs to be replaced, the control arm that is. I'm considering doing > this myself. Has anyone one out there ever replaced on? Any comments on > how hard it is to do? > > Thanks The tough part undoubtedly will be separating the ball joint. I bought a separator on-line at http://www.etoolcart.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=6556 and it works well, but others have found similar devices for more like the $20 range IIRC. A pickle fork would work in a pinch since you are replacing the joint and don't care what happens to the old one, but they can be frustrating, too. The Haynes manual warns the steering knuckle and upper control arm have a lot of tension between them, so they advise leaving the nut loosely on the ball joint stud as you separate it. In addition, it recommends wiring the top of the knuckle to the shock absorber to prevent it from tipping sharply when the ball joint is separated. Otherwise, it looks pretty straightforward. Now, for feedback from people who have actually *done* the job.... Mike > > The ball joint on the upper left control arm on my 92 Accord is bad and > > needs to be replaced, the control arm that is. I'm considering doing [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > Mike ----------------------------- Some good tips there . . . I did two of them on a CR-V a while ago and there's no tension on the upper. The separator is available at places that carry the Whun-Hung-Low imported tools. In Canada Princess Auto has them for $20. Made in taiwan. It took about 45 minutes to swap out the upper arm and I was able to keep the old part (moved it to another CR-V) since the special tool doesn't wreck the boot. 'Curly' >> > The ball joint on the upper left control arm on my 92 Accord is bad and >> > needs to be replaced, the control arm that is. I'm considering doing [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > > 'Curly' I've bought and used the 20.00 Princess auto ball joint popper. Makes me wonder why I didn't buy one of these decades ago! If your that concerned about tension between the steering knuckle and the upper control arm, just put a jack underneath the lower control arm and raise it about 1/2 an inch. Also, if you just gonna trash the upper control arm, you can just use a pickle fork (small one) to separate the ball joint. The special tool is very useful if you are concerned with salvaging the rubber boot on the upper ball joint. Just get the pickle fork started and start whaling on it. Its quite therapeutic actually..... :) I've done the job twice on my 98 civic. First time it took 40 minutes. Second time it took 10. MAKE SURE you torque the tower bolts correctly, and MAKE SURE you seat the new upper ball joint in its taper properly too (proper torque is ESSENTIAL or you get all sorts of funny noises if it works itself out of its taper). Don't overtighten either, I've busted ball joint studs by doing that too. Use a torque wrench! On my civic, I believe the torque was 90 ftlbs on the tower bolts and 60 on the ball joint castle nut. t >>> > The ball joint on the upper left control arm on my 92 Accord is bad and >>> > needs to be replaced, the control arm that is. I'm considering doing [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >I've bought and used the 20.00 Princess auto ball joint popper. >Makes me wonder why I didn't buy one of these decades ago! > >> > The ball joint on the upper left control arm on my 92 Accord is bad and > >> > needs to be replaced, the control arm that is. I'm considering doing [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > I've bought and used the 20.00 Princess auto ball joint popper. > Makes me wonder why I didn't buy one of these decades ago! ------------------------------------ Because they've always been about $60CAN ??? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I was there tonight and they are on sale for $16.99. I paid $63 for the 'real ' one a year ago. Think it's DTC or something. The one shown in the Honda manual is much thinner so it really gets under the boot better. Maybe I'll buy myself the Princess Auto 'stocking stuffer' version and grind it down just like the one in the Honda manual. Way less stressful when you don't have to worry about chopping up the boot. 'Curly' >> >> > The ball joint on the upper left control arm on my 92 Accord is bad >> >> > and [quoted text clipped - 54 lines] > > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Yeah, that /was/ probably why...:) > I was there tonight and they are on sale for $16.99. I paid $63 for the > 'real ' one a year ago. Think it's DTC or something. The one shown in [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > 'Curly' Tighten, pause,... tighten, pause...tighten, pause....tighten, pausPOP! Skim the popular site http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/faq.html#balljoints . > The ball joint on the upper left control arm on my 92 Accord is bad and > needs to be replaced, the control arm that is. I'm considering doing > this myself. Has anyone one out there ever replaced on? Any comments on > how hard it is to do? Well, this is not exactly timely, but yes, I just put one in my 90 Accord. Using a Haynes manual, but I prefer a factory service manual. No, it wasn't hard for me to do. The parts came from eBay. I removed the strut and then replaced the control arm. Torquing the pivot bolts/nuts before installing saved me a lot of hassle. I used the original control arm as a guide for that. I just followed the steps and it was pretty straightforward. Now if I could just figure out how to get the steering tie rod end off... dw > The ball joint on the upper left control arm on my 92 Accord is bad and > needs to be replaced, the control arm that is. I'm considering doing > this myself. Has anyone one out there ever replaced on? Any comments on > how hard it is to do? > > Thanks |
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