Anti-Roll Bar Droplink Replacement

My Accord 2.4 Type-S failed its equivalent of the MOT due to a broken ARB droplink. Researching the web including TA and other links convinced me that this would be a pretty straight-forward job, and to be honest it was.

DISCLAIMER: Undertake this at your own risk. I will not be responsible for any injury or damage you do to yourself of your car

So to begin, gather all the components you need. Specifically, I order two replacement droplinks for my Accord tourer AND replacement nuts. An initial inspection of the droplinks suggested that the nuts were well rusted and I'd more than likely damage them - they are not huge money. Furthermore the top nuts are actually lock-nuts and Honda recommended that these are replaced when the stabilizer is done. So, here is what I ordered from Honda:

51320-SED-013 - LINK COMP., R. FR. STABILIZER x 1
51321-SED-013 - LINK COMP., L. FR. STABILIZER x 1
90002-S10-000 - NUT, FLANGE, 10MM x 2
90212-SA5-003 - NUT, SELF-LOCK, 10MM x 2

Point of note: The links are colour coded from Honda to indicate which side to mount the links on. If the stabilizer has a RED paint mark, it's for the LEFT side of the car (i.e. for UK&I cars the passenger) and if it has BLUE mark, is for the RIGHT (i.e. for UK&I cars the drivers side)

Once the parts were obtained, I gathered the following tools:




In the picture there is:

Hacksaw
14mm Spanner
Vise-Grip
Torque Wrench
Lock Nut Removal
PB Blaster (anti-seize spray)
and the new Components

Missing from the picture is the 4mm Allen Key I used to help lock in the new Stabilizers.


Ok, so you are ready to begin.

1. Jack the front of the car up and put it on Jack Stands. Now safety first make sure the car is stable and if in doubt DO NOT attempt to removal wheels, etc. Get the car stable. You are too important to be crushed by a falling car.

2. With the car up remove both wheels. It is important to have both wheels off the ground so that the ARB is not twisted when mounting the new droplinks (it also makes life easier)

3. Now that the wheels are off locate your first ARB droplink. For me one was broken so I was going to start there:



4. My suspension system componentss are pretty rusty, so to make things easier, I sprayed the nuts of the ARB droplink with some PB Blaster (great stuff) and let it do its magic



5. As the ARB droplinks was already broken, I pushed the old link up and removed the rubber and plastic cover to reveal the balljoint of the droplink. When I had the plastic and rubber off (with a cutting knife), I then cleaned the balljoint with a cloth. The joint can be see as follows:



If your droplinks are not completely broken, see later on how to break them!

6. With the PB Blaster having completed it's magic, adjust your Vise-Grip so that it grabs the ball side of the components tightly. Additionally attach the 14mm spanner to the other side and start undoing the components. Some people here recommending a Dremmel tool to remove this, however I didn't have access to one. Anyhow, keep working the system to free the nut and bolt connections:



Eventually they will come apart, it took me about 3-4 minutes to complete the single bolt and nut.

7. The process needs to be repeated for the top bolt and nut. However this side of the droplink was still intact for me. So I needed to break it! Take your trusty Vise-Grip and attach it to the droplink. Then bend away from the ball joint the droplink arm should seperate easily from the ball joint





8. Using the same steps as described above (Vise-Grip and 14mm spanner) remove the upper bolt and nut from the ARB.



9. Clean the area and remove any loose dirt/rust.

10. Now loosely attach the ARB droplink (RED=LEFT, BLUE=RIGHT) to the car. Do not tighten at this stage.

11. Switch side of the car and and prepare to remove the other droplink using the same process.

Note in my car the ARB droplink was not broken, but I decide to replace it anyway. In order to remove the droplink I needed to get leverage to exposue the ball joints. So, I used my hacksaw to first cut the link and my Vise-Grip to remove the link arms.





12. Once removed, the two ball joints were exposed and could be removed as done previously



13. Finally with the old droplink removed, replace the new droplink and loosely tighten.

14. With both side loosely fitted commence to tighten the droplinks starting at the top nut (locknut) and then the bottom-nut (flange). They should look something like this:





15. All done, check everything again, re-attach the wheels, drop the car and take for a test drive!

16. After a short test drive jack the car up again and ensure the droplink bolts are still tight. If they are you should be good!

Enjoy.

Thank you for a great write-up.

Good write up Jason well done

Thanks Guys - it was all the DIYs on here that encouraged me to do the job in the first place.

Then I wanted to share the experience to encourage others

Excellent write up. Thanks for posting up and well done.

I'M just thinking what is the lump of tree for

brett said:

I'M just thinking what is the lump of tree for

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Yeah, it looks a little out of place. It's backup for the jack stands, just in case they fail. A remote chance of course, but I'd rather be sure!

Awesome write up

I Just had my mechanic replace one of mine, I may now have a go at the remaining old one at some point.

A Great and welcome addition to the DIY section.

Excellent write up Jason

Thanks for taking the time to do it

Excellent write up!

I take it this is the same for both petrol and Derv?

Dan Robinson said:

I take it this is the same for both petrol and Derv?

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I don't see why not. There may be different part numbers for the droplinks/Stabilizers, but the approach would be the same.

Great write up well done.

Yes they are the same for the diesel.

I think alot of people have resorted to cutting them off but like you if they are stuck I just popped them off and got mole grips on them.

Monks said:

Yes they are the same for the diesel.

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But not between saloon and tourers. See my thread Front-Roll Bar Droplink Replacement for my observations of part differences.

I'll be checking mine this weekend as I'm getting a knocking noise but at least I know how to change them now!

Cheers.

Superb, thank you, have done them on other cars before but visuals are always great for me...

I've just done the Drivers side following MOT failure (although I'm not sure it was like that before the MOT

One thing to note. Despite the use of WD40 neither nut was EVER going to undo, And my 14 mm ring spanner was just going to round off the Nut. so I had to go out and but a nut cracker, which was never going to cut the nut in half because of the shoulder on the nut. And my best mole grips were never going to hold on the ball.

In the end I resorted to using the nut cracker as a Clamp to hold the nut in place and a pipe wrench thing on the ball. Don't know how best to describe this tool, as I don't remember buying it, but it has the sharpest teeth, and as you rotate it on the ball, it bites harder and harder. I was close to getting out my angle grinder but think it might be a bit tight, and possible to damage stuff around it.

The local motor factor provided a pattern part, overnight, which looks to me to be a better design than the honda one, in that it has a 17 mm nut, and no shoulder. Apparently they had one's for a vectra or mondeo in stock.

Great write up.....the fronts are new on mine but rear drivers side now failed....just worried about those tight nuts....may get some Plusgas first.....I would really love to do this myself!

TBH the rear are pretty straightforward too as there is more space. If the nuts are just too tight the cut off the bolt with the hacksaw or a Dremmel type tool.

Thanks buddy,

I ***ume the cut is made at the ball end and the bolt will then be free? Guess its not threaded into arm?

Sorry if a silly question. :blush:

Was think of ordering links on Tuesday from HH.....worth it?

Regards


Simon

Simon1602 said:

Thanks buddy,

I ***ume the cut is made at the ball end and the bolt will then be free? Guess its not threaded into arm?

Sorry if a silly question. :blush:

Was think of ordering links on Tuesday from HH.....worth it?

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Correct. The hold in the Anti-Roll bar itself it not threaded and once the nut is loose the whole link will spin freely. So, if you can get the bolt to move even a small bit and get a hacksaw/dremmel in there you're sorted!

Never used HH myself (don't ship to Ireland) but people rave about them and they seem to offer excellent service!

If the question though is whether to use Genuine Honda or pattern parts - upto you. I know a few people have used ADL/Blueprint with success.

For me I used Honda on the front but at nearly €140 for the pair, I replaced the rears with pattern parts (cost €30!)

An alternative would be just to get a garage to do it.

The nuts can be a nightmare to get off if they are siezed and not worth it just to save £30 - £40 in labour costs.

If the nut is siezed a garage will just heat it up with an oxy-acetylene torch to free it up and then it comes straight off.

Agree with Cliff. If you're unsure about this one it's no big deal to take it down the garage. As a garage can do this job in under 45 minutes, it's not the end of the world in labour costs. I attempted my ARBs once and snapped a seized bolt! Ended up having to take it to the garage to get the bolt out , so even though I'd started with the intention of saving myself money on labour costs, I still ended up spending the money.

I'd say, if it's a little job for the garage and it includes rusted/seized bolts that might take you hours to sort, take it down the garage .

Guys these are the ARB droplinks not bushes. I'd give it ago first if the nut is stuck THEN take it to the garage. It's not a big safety concern if you have half the link odd while you drive to the garage

jayok said:

Guys these are the ARB droplinks not bushes. I'd give it ago first if the nut is stuck THEN take it to the garage. It's not a big safety concern if you have half the link odd while you drive to the garage

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I was just giving my ARB as an example of seized bolt hassle etc. But you're right. It's fine to drive with a detached drop link, will just make the corners very boat-ish :lol: . Have a crack and then, if it's crocked, get it to the garage. But if you can do it yourself without the need for the garage... Result!

Sure there's no harm trying first.

The problem is the lousy design of these Honda links. You use a spanner on the nut with one hand and a ratchet with an Allen key attachment inserted into the end of the link with the other hand. Trouble being that if the nut is stuck you soon round off the insides of the end of the link where the Allen key goes in. Other manufacturers such as Toyota design a section of the link with four sides so that you can use a second spanner on it to turn against the nut.

Heat will definitely shift it though no problem. Funnily enough I recently invested in a Rothenberger Superfire 2 torch and MAPP gas after previously receiving advice from smh a member on here to do that. Not used on a drop link yet but one of the nuts and bolts on my cat heat shield was completely stuck together when I changed it recently but after 30 seconds of the Rothenberger it came straight off no problem at all.

If money is no object the best solution of all is a mini ductor but they cost several hundred quid.

Ok....thanks for all then comments....picked up the Blueprint parts....good quality but less than half the price of OEM....

Really want to do myself....rather spend the labour money on some new tools

Two last questions....do these need to be torqued up, to what and how do you achieve this given the design?

Cheers all,



Simon