ball joint question or problem???

[civicVI]

just wondering how to remove the ball joint in the lower area?? photo below
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n244/civicVI/copy3zj9.jpg
pls help me!
thanks

[shadou]

air gun on bolt end and I think from memory either 17mm or 19mm long spanner to hold FIRMLY, you want to hold the spanner so that the air gun can do it's job or else it just spins there, note you will want to have 100% placement with the spanner on the nut or else slippage may occur. or breaker bar one end and spanner on other same difference.
Oh this will require a lot of force to loosen and will require equally the amount to tighten.

[civicVI]

i think that is call TIE ROD END BALL JOINT

[Sir_vtec]

You need a ball joint separator below (only $20 from super cheap). Some people know how to bash it with a solid steel hammer on the side of the joint. I tried it and no luck more like i felt i was going put a hair line crack on the front LCA lol

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5506/81671646.png

[shadou]

oh thought it was the circled part with a question mark next to it, but yea sir_vtec has it right, instead of the steel mallet you may want to try a brass or a rubber mallet (brass preferred) and go crazy at it, good luck.

[vinnY]

$20 well spent, save you heaps of time on ball joints

oh my that ball joint remover looks familiar sir_vtec, got the same one in my tool cupboard ;)

[Sir_vtec]

^^^ sure is :)

brass mallet is best. rubber mallet doesnt do anything imo.

[vinnY]

on the topic of brass mallets, where can i find one?
don't really need it now but it'd be nice to have kicking around
i've scoped out bunnings and the likes but no dice from them

[Sir_vtec]

Have you looked at Bursons? Good chance they'd have one.

[shadou]

yea that's why I prefer the brass over the rubber, you could always use a couple of rags to soften the blow using a sturdy steel hammer just other options

[civicVI]

thanks guys
i bought the ball joint separator below from super cheap $30

[fillit]

does anyone have advice on putting the upper ball joint back in, having abit of difficulties because i can't tap it properly with the hammer

[vinnY]

you just fit it through and torque it up and whack the split pin in
you don't have to hammer them back into place when reinstalling

[fillit]

i have but it doesn't seem like the ball joint is secured in :S when i take off the castle nut again, it pops back out

[vinnY]

once you've got the castle nut back on you might need to put some load on it to stop the nut from free-spinning

have you jacked up the whole knuckle to line up the upper control arm to do up the ball joint? if you have lower it then torque it up properly

[u mad?]

does anyone have advice on putting the upper ball joint back in, having abit of difficulties because i can't tap it properly with the hammer

Gon brake

[ceekay101]

I dont think ive ever had trouble with one. merely just line it up and secure nut. Got a pic, unless something isnt line up correctly?

[rice_picker]

also when putting the ball joint back in try clean the part where it is going to go into with some fine / medium grit sand paper to remove all foreign materials and rust will me it a hell of a lot easier

and maybe a tiny whisker of WD40 etc to help it slip in and as above the tension of doing the nut back up pulls it up into its "slot" well hole

[Super-DA9]

to pop the lower ball joint you can just put a jack underneath the lower control arm and jack up the brake a few inches, then find a socket extension/breaker bar/anything solid to wedge between the control arm and where the ball joint is mounted. then just drop the jack and POP! it's undone.

completely painless.

like so:

http://www.ozhonda.com/gallery/data/2/medium/3IMG_4963.jpg

unless this is about REMOVING the actual ball joint??

[rice_picker]

^^^^^^^^

What he said that is the EASIEST way by far to spread them its like job done in 30 seconds i loved that move have used it a dozen times just sometimes you need to do it about 3-4 times

But then to remove it you may need to take the arm out for a press or there may be some type of small press you could use , or if your strong a big hammer and lots of muscle

But i believe this is about the removal and install

[fillit]

wish i knew that trick, taking it out, i used the vibration method with a mallet.

this is for putting the upper ball joint back in, it went in fine on the driver side, but i'm struggling with the passenger..

i'll give it another go and take some pics when it's not 38 degrees outside