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View Full Version : OEM Ball Joint FTMFL!!!!!!



03Si757
08-08-2008, 02:48 PM
Man what a day. All I wanted to do was replace the driver side ball joint boot between the LCA and knuckle, but the Ball joint didn't wanna come out of the LCA. But the ball joint decided to depart from the mounted part on the knuckle. I DO NOT KNOW HOW THIS HAPPEND! I did everything the way I was supposed to do so. But I lost. So replacing the ball joint tomorrow morning (Hopefully) if nothing else evil happens. I also broke a $13 screw driver and put a nice lovely gash in the paint on my right fender (GO ME)

It literally took me to take the whole LCA off and literally whack at the ball joint to get it to release from the LCA using a sledge hammer. Took a ish load as well.

Here's Pics, They speak for themselves.

There a little beat up due to after math of just trying to remove them. After they separated, I just didn't give a shyt anymore.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1637/dsc00261nw4.jpg
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/566/dsc00262gr4.jpg
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/5624/dsc00263us2.jpg

BTW DAVE (Ba82Ep3), your a life saver man, I appreciate all the stuff you help me with.

Gargola
08-08-2008, 03:06 PM
Man what a day. All I wanted to do was replace the driver side ball joint boot between the LCA and knuckle, but the Ball joint didn't wanna come out of the LCA. But the ball joint decided to depart from the mounted part on the knuckle. I DO NOT KNOW HOW THIS HAPPEND! I did everything the way I was supposed to do so. But I lost. So replacing the ball joint tomorrow morning (Hopefully) if nothing else evil happens. I also broke a $13 screw driver and put a nice lovely gash in the paint on my right fender (GO ME)

It literally took me to take the whole LCA off and literally whack at the ball joint to get it to release from the LCA using a sledge hammer. Took a ish load as well.

Here's Pics, They speak for themselves.

There a little beat up due to after math of just trying to remove them. After they separated, I just didn't give a shyt anymore.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1637/dsc00261nw4.jpg
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/566/dsc00262gr4.jpg
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/5624/dsc00263us2.jpg

BTW DAVE (Ba82Ep3), your a life saver man, I appreciate all the stuff you help me with.


I'm going to tackle this myself today... I am going to drop the tranny and was going to take advantage of the situation to replace the boots, now you got me worried. ..

27rocks
08-08-2008, 04:55 PM
lol i had to do the same thing last week but i somehow hammered it out of the lca. I hammered really close to where the balljoint goes in and sprayed it with some lube. I let it sit for a while and hammered some more till it poped out.

BeaterEP
08-09-2008, 02:06 PM
Great, now I'm happy...was under the car PB blasting various exhaust nuts/bolts the other day, in anticipation of a DC5S install soon, and notice both boots are annihilated...and now my fears of this job being a real PITA are apparently confirmed.
Damn.

Any info on how to not make that replacement a complete bloody mess?

!@#$%
08-09-2008, 05:31 PM
If I ever need this done, I'm paying a shop to do it.

Gargola
08-09-2008, 06:41 PM
Well.. the ball joint has won... solelive and I spent Friday night and most of today trying to take that ball joint off using everything you can think out... with no success.


We have destroyed a ball joint separator tool, bent a 5 ft pole on the ball joint fork, attempted using a pitman puller... and the fucking ball joint is just sitting there laughing at us... not even a budge!

:ugh:

Heitzke
08-09-2008, 06:53 PM
Wow that's terrible man. I replaced both boots last week and it only took manning up for few minutes with a ball joint fork to pop them off. Sorry to hear you're having so many problems.

BeaterEP
08-09-2008, 07:27 PM
Wow that's terrible man. I replaced both boots last week and it only took manning up for few minutes with a ball joint fork to pop them off. Sorry to hear you're having so many problems.

So what's your technique? Any particular trick, or did you just Hulk the fuck out on those bitches? :confused:

Heitzke
08-09-2008, 07:49 PM
So what's your technique? Any particular trick, or did you just Hulk the fuck out on those bitches? :confused:

No real tricks honestly. I just made sure the fork was on there securely, slipped a pipe on the end of the fork and pushed like hell.

BeaterEP
08-11-2008, 09:35 AM
Actually, this just occurred to me, but if I'm just replacing the boot, does the ball joint actually have to come off/out? Or can I just pop the new boot on there and be done with it?

Gargola
08-11-2008, 11:38 AM
Actually, this just occurred to me, but if I'm just replacing the boot, does the ball joint actually have to come off/out? Or can I just pop the new boot on there and be done with it?

The boot goes over the part that is matted against the lower control arm, not on the nut side.

Unless you slit the boot and get creative with the joining process, there is no way for you to install it without the ball joint coming off.

Heitzke
08-11-2008, 11:51 AM
The boot goes over the part that is matted against the lower control arm, not on the nut side.

Unless you slit the boot and get creative with the joining process, there is no way for you to install it without the ball joint coming off.

Right, the ball joint has to be separated from the LCA in order for the boot to be replaced.

03Si757
08-11-2008, 12:21 PM
Right, the ball joint has to be separated from the LCA in order for the boot to be replaced.

Which is basically what I was tryna do when THIS (Look up) happened. SO Id advise to just replace the whole thing if your boot tears, or be prepared to.

BeaterEP
08-11-2008, 01:07 PM
Which is basically what I was tryna do when THIS (Look up) happened. SO Id advise to just replace the whole thing if your boot tears, or be prepared to.

Sucks.

Heitzke
08-11-2008, 01:17 PM
Which is basically what I was tryna do when THIS (Look up) happened. SO Id advise to just replace the whole thing if your boot tears, or be prepared to.

What did you use to try to separate the two?


Sucks.

There's such a big price difference between the boots and the joint, why not give it a whirl and see if it works out well for you?

BeaterEP
08-12-2008, 06:31 AM
There's such a big price difference between the boots and the joint, why not give it a whirl and see if it works out well for you?

I've considered it, but the problem is if something goes wrong, then mein auto ist kaput! And that would be bad, very bad.

Who knows, I might get ballsy this weekend and go for it.

Did you have your car on stands when you were doing this? Gimme a quick rundown of your work, if you could. :mbiggrin:

soncep
08-12-2008, 06:47 AM
Used this trick and it worked just fine.
Make sure you lube up the balljoint.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISY8bGof3bQ

skoundrelusa
08-29-2008, 10:43 AM
/\/\ I tried that yesterday. Not even close to working for some reason. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. But yeah I fucked up the boot bad yesterday. I'm never touching suspension ever again.

blackyEP3
08-29-2008, 10:57 AM
Ball joint or no ball joint, you are a ballar with the rolex.:mtongue:

03Si757
08-29-2008, 01:53 PM
/\/\ I tried that yesterday. Not even close to working for some reason. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. But yeah I fucked up the boot bad yesterday. I'm never touching suspension ever again.

Ya, it dont work.... sadly.

BTW fellas, if you do replace your ball joint, and decide to press the ball joint back into the knuckle youself, make sure you got enough torque and enough leverage. It takes ALOT!

BeaterEP
08-30-2008, 08:20 AM
Said "Fuck it" and took it to the local dealer...they're reasonably honest and professional (unlike some of those Houston pricks).

Cost me $113 out the door, which to me was worth it for not having to deal with this shit and worry bout breaking something.

Maybe next time I'm working on that area of the car I'll give it a whirl myself, but for now I'm trying to keep things relatively simple...I don't have a garage yet, just the apartment complex parking lot.

Until then, basic mechanical stuff is my world. :mbiggrin:

03Si757
08-30-2008, 09:18 AM
Ya thats not abd at all really, specially at a dealer.

talonXracer
08-30-2008, 09:28 AM
I have never had much of an issue getting them apart. The key is to use the proper tools and procedures.

Lifting up on the knuckle and hitting the LCA downwards will damage the ball joint and make them seperate just like in the posted pics.

Pressure needs to be applied on the ball joint stud and LCA with a clamp type remover. Then some solid whacks with a 3lb sledge on the impact pad will seperate them easy as pie.

mustclime
08-30-2008, 01:02 PM
Threads like this make me laugh.......did you even bother to look at the manual? You should not use forks or stupid tricks to pop lower balljoint....get one of these.....

http://www.toolrage.com/prodView.asp?idproduct=5046

It is a reproduction of the Honda tool for separating the lower ball joint. There are cheaper copies of this tool but leave them alone, they will brake.

Do yourself a favor, next time you feel the need to hit your suspension with a BFH, hit yourself in the head first, it might knock some sense into you. :gary:

BeaterEP
08-30-2008, 01:27 PM
Threads like this make me laugh.......did you even bother to look at the manual? You should not use forks or stupid tricks to pop lower balljoint....get one of these.....

http://www.toolrage.com/prodView.asp?idproduct=5046

It is a reproduction of the Honda tool for separating the lower ball joint. There are cheaper copies of this tool but leave them alone, they will brake.

Do yourself a favor, next time you feel the need to hit your suspension with a BFH, hit yourself in the head first, it might knock some sense into you. :gary:

:meek:
LOL, yet another reason I didn't want to mess with this shit yet...if you don't have the tool, you can't do the job.
I'm assuming whoever it was that posted about breaking the ball joint tool was just using the Autozone or whatever cheap version?
Good to know that it can be done with the proper tools though.
How about popping it back in though? How do you get that done? :mconfused:

mustclime
08-30-2008, 02:59 PM
They just slip back in and you tighten them into place. Most times you have the axel pop out, but that is no big deal.....

as for the broken tool, the cheap copies are made out cast iron and cost 15 bucks. The tool I posted is forged and way stronger.....it also costs around 56 bucks as a result.

03Si757
08-30-2008, 08:19 PM
Threads like this make me laugh.......did you even bother to look at the manual? You should not use forks or stupid tricks to pop lower balljoint....get one of these.....

http://www.toolrage.com/prodView.asp?idproduct=5046

It is a reproduction of the Honda tool for separating the lower ball joint. There are cheaper copies of this tool but leave them alone, they will brake.

Do yourself a favor, next time you feel the need to hit your suspension with a BFH, hit yourself in the head first, it might knock some sense into you. :gary:

I love people that get on these forums looking to flame people. Next time you want to give advice, leave the smart ass out of it.

Its called you live and you learn. Not everyone has the time nore the resources to wait for a ordered part. So I was putting my input in as to WHY NOT do it the way I did. That is all.

And the manual tells you to do and to NOT do alot of things, but not all of it is true.