94 honda accord CV joint emergency :-P

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Originally Posted By: Olas
You don't need a ball joint separator, leave it in the steering knuckle and unbolt the ball joint from the wishbone. So long as the hub nut and track rod end are loose you'll have enough wiggle room.

There is absolutely no point in removing the ball joint nut if you're not going to separate it from the control arm. The ball joint will still be firmly attached to the control arm and will not wiggle at all. That's the whole point of needing a separator to get it loose.

And disconnecting the tie rod alone will not give enough wiggle room to get the axle out. You must disconnect one of the ball joints. (And if you're disconnecting a ball joint, you don't need to disconnect the tie rod). OP's car is extremely similar to mine and probably even uses many of the same part numbers. I've already been there and done this job on my car.
 
Originally Posted By: exranger06

There is absolutely no point in removing the ball joint nut if you're not going to separate it from the control arm. By telling him to undo the bolts that hold the balljoint to the wishbone it was kind of implied, no?The ball joint will still be firmly attached to the control arm and will not wiggle at all. See aboveThat's the whole point of needing a separator to get it loose. only to get it out of the bearing carrier/steering knuckle bot not if you unbolt the ballpoint from the wishbone

And disconnecting the tie rod alone will not give enough wiggle room to get the axle out. You don't need to get the axle out, only the joint off the shaft. I mentioned the hub nut and the track rod and the balljoint, wiggle wiggle and the joint is on the end of the shaft right in front of you
You must disconnect one of the ball joints.Wait, is it double wishbone? If so, ignore me
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(And if you're disconnecting a ball joint, you don't need to disconnect the tie rod). OP's car is extremely similar to mine and probably even uses many of the same part numbers. I've already been there and done this job on my car. If its a macpherson strut, I've done hundreds if not thousands of CVs, most on a lift and under a roof but some breakdowns on gravel car parks, too
 
I would pay a bit more and get the CARDONE SELECT unit.

Last year I purchased a set of the APWI CV assemblies and one was packed and shipped damaged and on the other one the boot developed a small tear with less than 4k miles. I was not impressed with their lack of quality control.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
Originally Posted By: exranger06

There is absolutely no point in removing the ball joint nut if you're not going to separate it from the control arm. By telling him to undo the bolts that hold the balljoint to the wishbone it was kind of implied, no?

No, it wasn't implied. Not to me, anyway
The ball joint will still be firmly attached to the control arm and will not wiggle at all. See aboveThat's the whole point of needing a separator to get it loose. only to get it out of the bearing carrier/steering knuckle bot not if you unbolt the ballpoint from the wishbone
You can't unbolt the ball joint from the control arm on this car. The joint is apart of the arm and it's all one piece.

And disconnecting the tie rod alone will not give enough wiggle room to get the axle out. You don't need to get the axle out, only the joint off the shaft. I mentioned the hub nut and the track rod and the balljoint, wiggle wiggle and the joint is on the end of the shaft right in front of you
I was describing the steps for replacing the whole shaft, as that was my original recommendation.
You must disconnect one of the ball joints.Wait, is it double wishbone? If so, ignore me
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Yes, it is double wishbone, not Macpherson strut.
(And if you're disconnecting a ball joint, you don't need to disconnect the tie rod). OP's car is extremely similar to mine and probably even uses many of the same part numbers. I've already been there and done this job on my car. If its a macpherson strut, I've done hundreds if not thousands of CVs, most on a lift and under a roof but some breakdowns on gravel car parks, too
see above
 
You dont need a special tool other than a nice heavy hammer for separating the ball joint. Hit what it goes through repeatedly until it comes off. This way will actually preserve the ball joint boot.

This might be a good option if money is tight:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/94-97-Honda-Accord-OEM-L-driver-side-Axle-automatic-transmission-with-ABS-Ex-/121205016017?fits=Year%3A1994%7CModel%3AAccord%7CSubmodel%3AEX&hash=item1c3861c5d1:g:3aUAAOSwNSxVexj5&vxp=mtr
 
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Whelp my duct-tape and smeared in grease solution has lasted five weeks and hundreds of miles of driving to work! :p It went from GRIND-GRIND-GRIND to tick-tick-tick after shoving grease in there, and I had no alternative but to keep driving trying to get paid... Finally got paid enough extra to buy a remanned CV shaft and now having annoyance and trouble with what I think is the lower ball joint. (remember i'm no expert or mechanic here)

Since it's possible the ball joint is bad anyways (the boot around it looks a little wonky, how do I know if it's a must replace vs can postpone for a bit fix) is this a situation where I want to use a pickle fork on it? And what is involved in replacing a ball joint if I do? The video I was using for the CV shaft was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSdSmH2xaDM and i'm stuck three bolt removals in... I have been smacking and smacking and smacking and smacking the lower arm with a 2.5lb head hammer while having someone else apply force with a 3 foot crowbar and it's just NOT popping off.

I have a borrowed car for two more days but have to get this fixed up pretty quick. :p


Picture from in front of the left driver's side axle, in case it helps any.

cv_joint_honda_01.jpeg


Picture from behind the left driver's side axle, in case it helps any.

cv_joint_honda_02.jpeg
 
If it were me, I would keep driving. I remember a mechanic friend telling me that he has seen people drive bootless for years and had never seen one break from normal driving.
 
I'm not surprised you're having trouble with the lower ball joint. I've always had trouble with them, and honestly, every time I've had to get the joint separated, I always used a pickle fork and replaced the ball joint afterward. However, an easier solution for you would be to forget about the lower ball joint and separate the UPPER ball joint instead. You should be able to get the axle out with just separating the upper joint and it's much easier to seperate. Get a pitman arm puller and use that to pop the upper ball joint loose. It won't destroy the boot and it makes it super easy to pop it loose.
 
Well the look of the lower balljoint boot has me wondering if it needs replacement anyways... the picture may not show it as well but there's kind of a 'crease' or ridge along there where it looks like it's starting to go. So seems inevitable to replace if I want it to run another 70k miles anyways.
 
Well if you're up for replacing it, then break out the pickle fork and have at it. I would still get a pitman arm puller and use it to pop the upper ball joint and the tie rod loose, and just remove the whole steering knuckle. That makes it easy to remove and replace the lower ball joint.
 
Still not having any luck. Watched a video on replacing ball joints and looked like more extra than I was up for doing right at this point (incl extra bought parts and extra bought tools just to fix what I thought should be originally simple) so still trying to get the [censored] lower ball joint out... there has to be some trick to it that i'm not getting. I'm banging on things way harder than in the video to the point of denting not just the metal but the hammer itself and ITS NOT COMING OFF. I tried threading the nut back on, then using a socket over it to try and protect as much as I could and putting upwards pressure with a floor jack while banging on it... still wont come off. Tried banging upwards on that same socket and nut on the balljoint hoping to knock it loose, no dice. I've tried a crowbar against the CV shaft i'm replacing anyways to try and push it down while simultaneously banging the [censored] out of it, it still refuses to come off so far.

Alternately if I end up using a pickle fork, whatever ball joint damage it does is probably staying so i'm wondering how dangerous that is because i'm just not going to be able to instantly do that right now. There must be some other untried trick.
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I'm also trying to avoid buying yet more tools that I may not be able to return and i'm limited in how high I can get the car right now with the shoddy chinajack I have/having in no way expecting it would be this hard.
 
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Like I said, your best bet is to forget about the lower ball joint and pop the upper joint loose instead. You can get it loose by hitting the knuckle with a hammer like you've been doing at the lower joint, but it's easier to use a pitman arm puller. A pitman arm puller only cost like ten or fifteen dollars. Or you might be able to rent one for free.

If you end up using a pickle fork on the lower joint, basically the only real bad thing that will happen is it will tear the rubber boot up. That will let dirt and water into the joint and make it fail sooner. It'll last at least a few thousand miles like that though.
 
Nevermind, it FINALLY gave way after more banging and penetrating oil. I dont know why penetrating oil should matter if it's not even threaded in there and supposedly was just a press fit but it seemed to... too tired to do the rest of it tonight but hopefully the rest will go without incident.
 
stupid question, are both front wheels off the ground? You could have a sway bar fighting you and your ball joint separation.
 
Finally following up with things, I finished the job (I think??) but took pictures of my other parts along the way and asking for comments on the condition of some other parts I saw there. Plus showing other people whats what:

CV shaft had been clicking for many months but the car was not under my observation at the time so I didn't know it needed a problem. It finally degraded to GRIND-GRIND-GRIND on any normal turn around a 90 degree corner and I thought it was on it's last legs.

My solution? Literally shove in a $2 tube of CV joint grease then use Gorilla tape to tape over the outside of the boot and some zip ties hoping it would last until I could afford to replace it properly as normal life for me is broke as ___. I thought I took a picture after the 'fix' but it seems lost. However the GRIND GRIND turned back into a soft tick-tick and it ended up working fine for FIVE WEEKS and daily driving for a total of hundreds of miles to work and back. (at least 400mi total since patch maybe 600mi, my odometer dont work) Right near the end on the last week it had started to sound notably worse each day, the ticking making a bit more noise.


cv_joint_honda_09.jpg


Here's what it looked like after five weeks of degradation, pretty bad again. The tape probably ripped after the first few turns, couldn't figure out how to make tape replace a boot from the angle but it DID stick to itself - it just didnt stick on the outside to the boot. Yet strangely enough kept in enough goop to keep it lubricated well for four more weeks. So ridicule all you want - it extended the life long enough to work.
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I might've even regooped it and retaped if i'd absolutely had to, who knows.


Anyway I finally pulled the old one and replaced the whole CV shaft. I took some pictures of the parts around things and i'm asking for public commentary since I don't know as well what i'm looking at or what it's condition should be.
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Trying to figure out what will need replacing when I have a chance for a second go through:

cv_joint_honda_03.jpg


Here's just behind the drivers side CV shaft where the steering rod connects... is that my ball joint? I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be open like that but i'm not sure what a new one looks like.



cv_joint_honda_04.jpg


Here's above the left drivers's side CV shaft, control arm I assume. Is this another ball joint? I'm assuming this probably needs replacement too by the look of the rubber.


cv_joint_honda_05.jpg



Here's from under the front left tire facing back, where I think the antisway bar was connected, harder to see with the shadow but couldn't tell on the phone til after I took it. How do I know if this bushing or/and ball joint needs replacing? It's got the same roughness around the edge the other one did but I couldn't tell if it was open/split or not.


cv_joint_honda_07.jpg


And this is probably retarded but whats the best way to dink the castle nut, is this enough to have it not spin off? Is there some trick to it? :- P
 
Originally Posted By: columnshift

Anyway I finally pulled the old one and replaced the whole CV shaft. I took some pictures of the parts around things and i'm asking for public commentary since I don't know as well what i'm looking at or what it's condition should be.
frown.gif
Trying to figure out what will need replacing when I have a chance for a second go through:

cv_joint_honda_03.jpg


Here's just behind the drivers side CV shaft where the steering rod connects... is that my ball joint?


That's the outer tie rod end. The rubber boots tend to crack open over time. It's not that big of a deal, but it can let dirt and water into the joint and wear it out faster. Leave it alone until it needs to be replaced. You can see if it needs to be replaced by jacking up the car, grabbing the tire at 3:00 and 9:00 positions, and trying to move the tire back and forth. There shouldn't be any movement.

Originally Posted By: columnshift
I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be open like that but i'm not sure what a new one looks like.

Go to a parts store and ask the parts guy to show you a new one. Then you'll know what a new one looks like.


Originally Posted By: columnshift
cv_joint_honda_04.jpg


Here's above the left drivers's side CV shaft, control arm I assume. Is this another ball joint? I'm assuming this probably needs replacement too by the look of the rubber.

Upper ball joint, connected to upper control arm. This is the joint I suggested you separate when you were having trouble with the lower ball joint. Another cracked rubber boot, same as the tie rod. Not that big of a deal. Check for looseness by jacking up the car, grab the tire at 12:00 and 6:00 and try to wiggle back and forth. Also use a pry bar in between the steering knuckle and upper control arm and try to pry them apart. They shouldn't move at all when you try to pry.

Originally Posted By: columnshift
cv_joint_honda_05.jpg



Here's from under the front left tire facing back, where I think the antisway bar was connected, harder to see with the shadow but couldn't tell on the phone til after I took it. How do I know if this bushing or/and ball joint needs replacing? It's got the same roughness around the edge the other one did but I couldn't tell if it was open/split or not.

When you had it apart, you should've done like I said and wiggled the ball joint shaft around and compared it to a new one. You can still check for looseness the same way as the upper ball joint: shake the tire at 12:00 and 6:00 and stick a pry bar between the lower control arm and the knuckle.


Originally Posted By: columnshift
cv_joint_honda_07.jpg


And this is probably retarded but whats the best way to dink the castle nut, is this enough to have it not spin off? Is there some trick to it? :- P


That's a spindle nut, not a castle nut. Hammer and chisel/large screwdriver is all you need. I would try to get it into the groove on the axle some more.
 
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