DAILY DRIVER ball joint issue!! Not a typical ‘noob’ question.

[Bill Holt]

[color=white]Hi!

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

I’ve been doing some suspension work on my ’95 Honda Civic LX. I had SERIOUS difficulties with pressing out and in the lower front control arm bushings. The ball joints were problematic, too. These jobs turned into nightmares, consuming unreal amounts of time, energy, and effort.

I rented one of those ‘POWERBUILT’ master press kits from Advance Auto for this, and I also have the OEM ‘special tools’ from Honda, with three pieces similar to those in the kit. The Honda tools were a blessing, in general, with the ‘installer base’ being a bit troublesome, and I used many combinations and improvisations along the way. Honda simply calls for the use of a bench vice for the ball joint work, as their tools are ingeniously designed for simplicity of use, but I have no shop, no vice, and this kit was the go-to option.

The big problem is that at the very end of the ordeal, I gave the c-clamp a final couple of mighty tugs to snug the ball joint into the knuckle, and there came with it a ‘POP!’ that sounded like the release you hear when pressing out a ball joint or a bushing, and the tension reduced similarly, too. This was on installation, mind you. When being removed, this ball joint had to be partially hacked out in stages, with the body of the housing left to be pressed out, and there was surprisingly little resistance in extricating it, compared to what was required for every other removal. Suddenly this went from a normally resistant press-in to being able to turn the c-clamp drive screw with my breaker bar easily.

My quandary: what ‘broke’? The ball joint is still seated in the distorted installer base — a very shallow cup with a heavy base and a thin wall that doesn’t perfectly cradle the crown of the ball joint, which is my only gripe about the Honda-specific tools — and they’re in the freezer awaiting a good whack with my rubber mallet to see if they can be separated. The ball joint would move in the knuckle by use of hand tools after this happened. I painstakingly removed the set ring and boot, pulled the ball joint which is now chilling in the grocer’s freezer, and inspected the knuckle, which shows no visible damage. I am very curious to examine the ball joint once I divorce it from the installation tool. I did sand the edges of the opening a bit vigorously to de-burr, as the other ball joint’s boot picked up a pinhole somewhere along the way, whether by me or in manufacturing — the second being less likely — and I smoothed the inner surface. I used P150, P1500, and 1500 b GatorGrit sandpapers. I highly doubt that I could have removed enough metal to destroy the tolerances between the parts, but that is my concern now, although the joint pressed in with expected bullwork until the very last aforementioned ‘snug tug’. My digital caliper, as best as I can get it in to take measurements of the knuckle opening, shows readings very close to those of the ball joints, yet a tad smaller as it should be, and there are rather exact matches between the new ball joint’s diameter and the diameters of the two originals that I removed. I did use some propane heat on removal for a couple of minutes at the most.

This sucks. No exaggeration. This is my daily-use car, and I like it a lot. I’m borrowing my neighbor’s car today to get to work. Already missed time due to these gargantuan maintenance efforts. Ideas from the ETCG Community are solicited with tremendous advance thanks, especially if you have had similar experience in replacing a stubborn ball joint like this one. Words fail me and my tireless persistence at this point of indescribable agitation. What would cause this sudden change and its resultant looseness of the ball joint in the knuckle?

THANK YOU for your help! I hope that this topic gets immediate attention and replies.[/color]:unsure: 🙂

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