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Ball joint press

Kaput!

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Messages
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Location
BOLTON UK
Car
04 accord tourer 2.0
Im looking to replace both lower ball joints but im unsure whether the universal C clamp press kits that are widely available on ebay etc are suitable? There are small 10 piece sets and some more expensive 31 piece sets so id opt for the latter as contains more sizes.
I did replace upper/lower control arms last year so prolly should have done these then.Just dont want to buy any kit begin job then find i need some specialist honda tool for it....any advice welcome.
 
do you have a compressor? pneumatic hammer/chisel did the trick for me, had the old one out and the new one in within a minute
it is possible to get the knuckle into a shop press but it's a little unwieldy, and the pipe/cradle combination you have to jerry rig and/or fabricate would work just as well with a good C or G clamp
 
No air tools unfortunately but i have pretty much everything else and a little workshop.Im thinking i will pick up one of these press kits and as you say i can just fabricate anything i need or adapt the cups/press tools.
 
Would you recommend any particular ball joints? Ive read delphi ones are decent? Dont plan on doing this job twice lol
 
No air at the time (have now) good idea to use the pneumatic chisel. I took the knuckle off, ground off most of the spindle and hammered it out. I have a C clamp kit, you should be able to get away with buying the smallest one as you only need a cup large enough to press into rather than a critical size. As this idiot discovers, no point trying to press it out and the kit is a bit unweldy to use with the knuckle in situ...5 min onwards.


Oh, the ABS sensor. Chances are it'll be seized, if you chose to remove the knuckle you can disconnect it from the loom from just inside inner wing/engine bay which is another faff.
 
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Sound advice thankyou! I am a little concerned though about abs ring and sensor.The videos ive seen show the plastic sensor itself needing removing from hub but breaks on removal.The last thing i wana do is end up breaking it and enter a whole new world of pain lol
 
I left mine in. follow the wire up the knuckle and upper wishbone and you'll see a passthrough, two flatheads to pop it off and then follow the wire through and you'll find a plug to undo
 
Defo correct way to tackle this i agree! Thanks for the tips guys.
 
Sound advice thankyou! I am a little concerned though about abs ring and sensor.The videos ive seen show the plastic sensor itself needing removing from hub but breaks on removal.The last thing i wana do is end up breaking it and enter a whole new world of pain lol
An aftermarket ABS sensor can be had for less than a twenty quid nowadays however besides dealing with the aftermath of the breakage in the hub you still have to plug/unplug it from the loom anyway so as long as the original is still working leave it in and unplug it from the loom further up as described. Actually it should be the very first thing you do before attempting to disconnect the knuckle otherwise you end up having to support the knuckle while the ABS cable is still connected while trying to disconnect it.
 
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