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Front lower ball joint replacement

C

chesjak

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south coast
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Accord I-ctdi
Hi Guys
I need to replace the lower ball joint on my Honda Accord 2005 diesel. I have seen a couple of sites in the USA that sell these separately instead of having to buy the whole arm with it in which is expensive.

Has anyone changed these before?
Do they come out of the arm or not?
Any ideas as to where I can get them in the UK

Any help appreciated.

Regards
 
I bought mine from euro car parts.

You need to undo the abs sensor, driveshaft, and the three ball joints holding the hub in (lower, upper, track rod) to remove the hub.
Remove the ABS cover ring in the hub.
You then need to beat the ball joint out (you'll need loads of heat too) and then drive the new one in. (Heat the hub, balljoint in the freezer beforehand)

Before you do the driveshaft back up, you need to clean and lightly grease where it contacts the wheel bearing, otherwise they knock when parking.
 
Fortunately I take photos of everything.

Driving the new ball joint in is a pig, as you can't get on it straight (hence the marks in mine)
I used an old broken 1/2" extension bar with the end ground flat as a driver - you have to drive off the sides, which are solid, and not the thin centre section of the balljoint)



This is the ABS cover ring. It's important you pry this off from the outside. The bearing seal you can see is full of magnets, which are read by the wheel speed sensor. IF YOU DAMAGE IT YOU WILL NEED TO FIT A NEW WHEEL BEARING.

To refit it, you need to tickle it in from the flat inner section, else it'll just ping out the opposite side.



Clean driveshafts and grease here. (There were Honda service bulletins for both gen 6 and 7's on this) if you have clonky hubs when parking, but your joints are good, this is why.
On the picture above you can see where they make contact and have slight movement (the clunk you hear is if this bit's dry and has surface rust as there's a tiny bit of movement on the driveshaft splines. This surface needs to be clean too as per the driveshaft surface.
Use 120 grit emery paper. Do not over grease this, as you don't want it to splatter the ABS sensor.

 
Hi GoodLuckMonkey

Thanks for your quick reply. Very helpful

Just exactly how much heat? - Will a gas diy blowlamp be sufficient?

Regards
 
Yeah, plumbers blowtorch is up to it.
I had to put a lot of heat into mine to shift it, but my car had done 150k miles at the time.
 
Cheers Goodluckmonkey

I have had a look at Eurocarparts and they show a Q-Drive ball joint for £20.49 but I do not think this is the right one as it shows an ordinary locking nut not a castilated nut on it. The other aftermarket ball joints are priced at £249 which to me suggests that it is the whole arm. All I want is the lower ball joint itself.

What did you buy and how much
 
Yeah, that's it - mine came with big nylock nuts when I did them.
 
Doesn't it have to have a castellated nut and split pin as per the original.

Not sure if I would like to fit the nyloc. Would it be safe?
 
Nothing wrong with a nyloc nut provided it hasn't be used a million times before.

If you're that worried, you could always drill the ball joint and use your old nut in conjunction with a split pin.
 
Hi Goodluckmonkey

Have just got the bits today. I decided to do both while I was at it. I bought a couple of Bilstein Joints. They look pretty substantial.

It's amazing just how slack they were. You don't realise it until you compared to the new ones.

The ABS cover ring you have mentioned, I have had a look at it and it seems to be pretty well stuck in there. Heat is out of the answer if there are magnets there and I have tried prising it a bit but it doesn't want to move and I don't want to damage it. I have sprayed it with penetrating oil an let it soak for a while to see if that will help. Am I not doing it right??

As you suggested it is in the way a touch and it needs to come out before I can remove the ball joint..

This all came about because of a couple of aggressive pothole on Monday. The last one knocked the ball joint right out of the wishbone and we ended up with the wheel hanging. Yanked the driveshaft apart to so that has got to be replaced. Could have been serious so I will be having a nice little chat with the County Council!!!

Regards
 
Pry with a screwdriver round the very outside of the abs cover ring, between the ring and the hub.

Just a little each time, and slowly work your way round, like you're removing a tyre with tyre levers.

A small amount, a lot of times will get it moved.

(I had to reshape one of mine in the vice before I refitted it)
 
Thanks for all your help Goodluckmonkey

I after a lot of hassle I got it all back together yesterday. The bolt holding the sensor in decided to shear off so I had to drill that out and re-thread.

Only one problem, now that I have replaced the actual sensor and connected it back up, when I start the engine, the ABS/VSA lights stay on, on the dash.

Before I start testing for the problem, have you any idea what the voltage should be at the connector terminals for the sensor or any idea what might have gone wrong??

Regards
 
Goodluckmonkey said:
Nothing wrong with a nyloc nut provided it hasn't be used a million times before.
If you're that worried, you could always drill the ball joint and use your old nut in conjunction with a split pin.
Click to expand...
I replaced both my front lower ball joints last month and followed this excellent guide. I fitted First Line ball joints which were slightly beefier than the originals (but the same diameter) and have a circlip to hold them in place, as well as still having to be pressed into place. The thread on the end of the taper is also larger than the original and uses a 22mm AF nut, which came with it and has a nylock insert... I also find this a less secure solution than a castellated nut and split pin. I checked it in the week and it wasn't as tight as it was when I fitted it! I'm going to get whatever Loctite product is appropriate (Studlock? Threadlock?) and apply some, just for peace of mind.

If I could add one bit of advice, DO NOT try to remove the ABS sensors unless they lift out easily... both mine were stuck solid and I actually managed to wreck both trying to remove the wretched things (first one I wasn't very careful, second one I was far more gentle but still broke it). In fact, I'd strongly recommend disconnecting each ABS sensor connector (just inside the inner wing, a bit of a fiddle) and removing the hub knuckle section complete with the ABS sensors in place and the loose wiring cable tied to make it tidy and keep it out of the way.

The good news was that I bashed out the old balljoints very easily, using a deep socket as a drift and whacking hard with a heavy club hammer, and the new ones went in fairly easily using the technique described above by Goodluckmonkey (although I didn't bother to use heat or cold).

I took the opportunity to fit new discs and pads while they were off, as the original discs were looking well past their best at 177k miles!
 
Good tonhear you keep an eye 9n these things Jon.

TBH, I've only ever checked mine once (a week later, so approx 550 miles in) and they were good.

I have had them off since to fit new driveshafts, but they hadn't been moving.
Sometimes the taper between the control arm and the ball joint doesn't snug up right, then seats itself leaving a little slack. I've had it happen once before and found it after a test drive, but that's He's for you I suppose.
 
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