Rep Power: 118

So my son “clipped” a curb last Saturday and blew out his tire. All the tires were getting low on tread, so I went ahead and had them put on 4 new tires and I told them I wanted the 4 wheel alignment. When we were picked up the car, we were told they couldn’t align it because the suspension was bad.

I ordered the full front end moog kit off of Rock Auto and while I was waiting for that to come in I bought the “1050 breakaway” 1/2 electric impact gun from Harbor Freight for $79 with coupon. That thing spun off the axle bolts with ease!

I removed my old ball joints just by whacking them out with 3lb hammer, and I pulled out my super heavy duty ball joint kit with that massive c-clamp and spacers. Used the right spacers and I was able To zip the first joint in with no issues. Started on the second knuckle and when the ball was 1/8 away from seating, it seemed to stall a bit but that impact kept going and the ball joint fully seated.

When I removed the c-clamp, it was obvious what happened, the stem of the new ball joint didn’t go into the hole at the end of the spacer so the entire stem was bent and mushroomed. 4-5 whacks with the hammer and it was out and I was on the road to the parts store to buy another joint.

So if you end up buying one of those impacts, be aware you can mess things up in a hurry!

 
Rep Power: 118

Small update, seems he “clipped” the curb quite a bit harder than I realized, the subframe collapsed inward pulling the wheel diagonal inwards/backwards 4mm.

It’s driveable atm, not looking forward To pulling one those off at a junk yard.. Maybe it’s time to look for a RSX donor...

 
Rep Power: 366

yeouch!

good luck

 
Rep Power: 223

I was expecting this to be about a dissatisfied Harbor Freight purchase but I was wrong. I hope you're making your son help repair his mistakes!

 
Rep Power: 242

RSX donor

I need an impact. I'll add that to my list of considerations.