7th gen ball joint DIY

[Mr_Plenty]

Also an easy way to get the balljoint disconnected from the LCA is to simply jack up the arm as high as your jack will take it then place vertically wedge the end of you ratchet in the space between the LCA and Knuckle. Remove the jack and viola! it pops free. Sometimes you have to step on the rotor a little but otherwise the cars weight does the job for you. No need for banging on a prybar or using those pickle forks that rip the boots.

To remove this ad, register today for free or log in if already registered!

[Mr_Plenty]

One more thing whenever you buy a complete balljoint remove the boot that it came with and check to see how much grease is actually in it. I checked the ones i bought and it barely had any grease in it so i filled it up with some moly grease and refitted the balljoint boot which is simple to do with a socket that is slightly larger than the ball joint boot. Once again great DIY. And experiece(which i had when i replace my wheel bearings)removing the knuckle etc will help.

[greeen01civic4d]

thanks again man, yea there are a few tricks to this, and knowledge will def help out a lot, nothing like experience

[gearbox]

if i buy the parts, can you drive up and install for free? lol

[greeen01civic4d]

if by free u mean, beer food and company

[robbclark1]

Originally Posted by greeen01civic4d

if by free u mean, beer food and hookers

fixed.

[greeen01civic4d]

lol, thanks robb

[civydcex]

So I got the old one out, got the ball joint insertion tool from auto zone but cant see how you can use it!! There is no room between the knuckle and ball joint to properly get the c clamp in to seat the ball joint!
I NEED HELP SOON PLEASE!!!!!!

[civydcex]

Thanks!!! Guess no one can help

[greeen01civic4d]

u just need to use the right fitting is all, post pics of what ur doing

[01candycivic]

i relapce al my old ass parts..lol what a pain in the ass.. but it drive like i just got it off the show room floor

[jason797]

I just changed all suspension parts on my front end. When i was changing my ball joints I purchased them from oreillys. They came with right angled grease fittings. When i installed them into the steering knuckle the clamp that holds the axle boot would hit the grease fitting. Very little or no clearance. I went back with a straight grease fitting that was a lot smaller and this seemed to work. I had more clearance on passenger side than driver. Has anyone else had this problem.

[greeen01civic4d]

ive never used greased balljoints on a civic, didnt see a need, but i bought mine from honda

[jcpham]

I had to replace a ball joint on my driver's side around 75k miles. 30k Hard driving miles on sportlines, tokicos, stb's, and 27mm progress sways made the ball joint break free from the knuckle completely.

I took it to get aligned one day and was told that they couldn't until my ball joint was replaced. They then proceeded to tell me that I had to replace the entire lca. I never went back.

[sataniksyndrome]

Hmmm...don't need the joints yet, but my '05 coupe has 102K on it already and my control arms sound horrible...you know the bushing problem? well I gots me some dorman aftermarkets to see how much more durable they are. Some honda factory stuff just isn't as durable as aftermarket. Plus they were like 1/2 the price ($69 vs honda's factory $129), so even if it's just as long lasting, dorman still is a better deal than honda. But as far as changing the joints, I think they should last another 20K miles, I'll probably wind up changing them along with my clutch since it's just starting to show signs of slippage. But don't think i'll be getting factory honda balljoints. My buddy recommended Moogs, so I'll try those out after these go.
Thanks for the pointers by the way, you just saved me some trouble of finding the wrench sizes to get these suckers off. I actually went on this DIY thread section to find something on control arm removal but hey this is close enough. Just have to match the wrench sockets sizes on the control arms.