lower ball joint...axle nut

[d112crzy]

Or you can be manly by using a manly hammer and do work like a man.

Everyone I spoke to said I'd have to take the knuckle off the car, put it in a vice and use a press. Even HondaFan81 told me this. I denied to be a sissy and bought myself a manly hammer and went to town. 7 big hits later the balljoint came out(after pushing out the hub assembly of course). I used a 19mm socket to hammer on to remove the balljoint.

No need to freeze anything, just hammer it back on. No need for all these fancy tools you bunch of women.

[Accrdwgnguy]

HAHA I tried hammering out the BJ with the knuckle still on the car. Not enough clearance to swing the hammer much. I just took the knuckle off, put it in a vice, 5 seconds with the air hammer and it was out.

[Sleeper00]

Or you can be manly by using a manly hammer and do work like a man.

Everyone I spoke to said I'd have to take the knuckle off the car, put it in a vice and use a press. Even HondaFan81 told me this. I denied to be a sissy and bought myself a manly hammer and went to town. 7 big hits later the balljoint came out(after pushing out the hub assembly of course). I used a 19mm socket to hammer on to remove the balljoint.

No need to freeze anything, just hammer it back on. No need for all these fancy tools you bunch of women.

lol i did reply just use hammer to get it out, i'll guess ppl know what they doing they will use hammer, and ppl DONT know what they doing they go rent tool, there's alot of things that u dont need to use the right tool to do the right job, just think and use what ever it will work

[d112crzy]

HAHA I tried hammering out the BJ with the knuckle still on the car. Not enough clearance to swing the hammer much. I just took the knuckle off, put it in a vice, 5 seconds with the air hammer and it was out.

Sounds like you need a jack that lifts higher. I usually jack my car up about 1.5 feet and that was plenty room.

[deevergote]

Doing something without the right tool is the fastest way to break something... your car, your tools, or yourself.


I've taken them out with a hammer. Installing needs a vise and a socket that fits neatly around the edge of the joint. I don't really care to beat up on the joint that my life is going be riding on. Smach the shit out of the one you're removing... but try not to damage the new one!

[Sleeper00]

of course u dont hammer on the new parts, u put something over the new parts then u hammer it in

[d112crzy]

Doing something without the right tool is the fastest way to break something... your car, your tools, or yourself.


I've taken them out with a hammer. Installing needs a vise and a socket that fits neatly around the edge of the joint. I don't really care to beat up on the joint that my life is going be riding on. Smach the shit out of the one you're removing... but try not to damage the new one!

Us experienced people can quickly tell you're definitely no a mechanic.

Lots of times, you won't have the right tool for the job so you have to come up with a new strategy. If you don't know how to use a hammer...you're better off stepping away from your car and pay to get it fixed.

of course u dont hammer on the new parts, u put something over the new parts then u hammer it in

I like this guy.

There's no need for any vice. Put either a socket on there(a 32mm fits perfect) over the ball joint, or a piece of wood and hammer down.

People tend to make things so much more complicated than they need to be.

[Sleeper00]

Us experienced people can quickly tell you're definitely no a mechanic.

Lots of times, you won't have the right tool for the job so you have to come up with a new strategy. If you don't know how to use a hammer...you're better off stepping away from your car and pay to get it fixed.





I like this guy.

There's no need for any vice. Put either a socket on there(a 32mm fits perfect) over the ball joint, or a piece of wood and hammer down.

People tend to make things so much more complicated than they need to be.

thanks d111crzy, i'll guess we r the ppl llike to do stuffs the smart and easy way

[deevergote]

If you say so

"the smart and easy way" is using the proper tools, and taking the proper precautions not to damage anything. Any other way is halfassing it.

The proper tools to do just about any job on your car are readily available, and relatively cheap. There's no need to risk the "smart and easy way" when the correct way isn't much more work.


I guess I'm not a mechanic... which is good. Every mechanic that has ever worked on my car has fucked it up.

[d112crzy]

that's because you're taking it to general mechanics. I'm a mechanic, but I wouldn't know the first thing about a Ford motor.

ANd it's not half assing it, it's called innovating and working with what you have. The world would be no where if it wasn't for people not settling with the "right" way to do things.

[Accrdwgnguy]

Sounds like you need a jack that lifts higher. I usually jack my car up about 1.5 feet and that was plenty room.

Yea my jack isn't exactly the "hi-lift" model.

My new joints just slipped in place, I oiled the opening or whatever you call it, one slipped in by finger, the other required a little hammering. I froze them when I did my car, but I'm not sure if it made a difference.

[deevergote]

Well, a vise and a socket are hardly the "right" way either... but they're better than whacking a good joint with a hammer.

Working with what you have is all well and good when you simply cannot get the tools necessary, and the job HAS to get done. Backwoods welding wiht jumper cables and a battery to get your truck out of the muck, for example.
However, when the proper tools are available at a local hardware store for a minimal expense, and the additional step would take you another 15-20 minutes... it's stupid to take shortcuts. That's not being innovative, it's being lazy. Or stupid. They often go hand in hand.


I can't say I'm not guilty of it myself. My jack sucks, and won't lift my car that high. When changing my oil filter on the Fit, I couldnt' get a proper angle to undo the filter. So I drove a screwdriver through it, rather than walking 3 blocks to Autozone to get a filter wrench. After doing this twice and making a mess on my street, I realized that hammering a screwdriver through a metal filter might not be the best thing for the threads that said filter is screwed onto. So I spent $7 on a good strap wrench. Now it's easier, cleaner, and better for my motor.
THE RIGHT TOOLS.

[moetan]

you can leave the knuckle on but its just as easy to pull the whole thing off. Then you have plenty of room to work and you don't have to worry about messing anything else up.

[D1sclaimer]

Did anyone else notice that the axle nut is 36mm? I thought that was kinda strange since every other Honda that I've done was 32mm.

[bcjammerx]

I know all about improvising when you don't have that crazy ass specialty tool. At toyota seemed like that ONE tool you needed to make that bitch of a job cake was always missing that ONE adapter that was for the car you worked on. Always had to come up with something different.

I used a hammer to knock the old one out...since it's trash it don't matter.

To put the new one in I tried a hammer, all I ended up doing was getting the ball joint crooked, not getting in to go in, and dinging up the top.


The ball joint press from autozone is much easier! 135 100% refundable once I take it back. And I didn't need any special adaptor. It was a pretty tight fit, even with a cheater pipe it was tighter pushing it in than I expected...course if I had a press it'd be like nothing.

I did go ahead and take the hub out just to give myself more room. And since I was replacing the upper joint I went ahead and took the whole knuckle off as well....hmm...diy time Cept my camera got left in the rain...seeing if it'll dry out...might not have any more pics than what I took...we'll see...I'll post up with pics what I did.