upper Ball Joint Blown - Honda Prelude Forum

robdog1 · 08-27-2004, 10:48 AM

My lude has been making a cracking sound the past week and today my wheel started shaking real bad. I go to finally look at the suspension to see what was going on and i see my stablizer bar busted totally through the ball joint in the upper arm.

i called a mechanic cuz i have no time to work on it, and he told me i needed to order a new upper arm to fix it. Can't i just go to a auto zone/pep boys and get a new ball joint?

any ideas?

PRelude787 · 08-27-2004, 06:28 PM

it's been discussed before.....search and ye shall find!

Basically, you need to buy the entire upper arm if it's for the front cuz you can't seperate the ball joint from the arm (that's just how Honda did it) cuz that's how it is. If it's for the rear, then you can just go and get the ball joint and pop it in there.

munscher · 08-28-2004, 12:36 AM

i separated my front upper ball joints in order to install my SPC adjustable ball joint camber kit. Honda may not sell the ball joint as a separate part but they're certainly separable as i have physically done it.

X01VTEC · 08-28-2004, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by munscher

i separated my front upper ball joints in order to install my SPC adjustable ball joint camber kit. Honda may not sell the ball joint as a separate part but they're certainly separable as i have physically done it.

i think you may be confusing the ball joints with the pivot bushings for the control arm....

there are 2 pivot bushings per front upper arm... these have bolts extending out of them that go through the strut towers.... where you attach say a nuespeed strut tower bar... these can also be replace with camber kits...

the ball joints are at the other far end from the pivot bushings... the ball joints connect the upper arm to the knuckle... there are 1 of these per side per control arm

however honda does not sell either the ball joint or the pivot bushing seperately from the control arm...

you can replace the pivot bushings with camber kits... or if the bushing it self has gone to ****... (dry rot or whatever...) you can also replace the bushing and its shell with a polyurethane counterpart...

no luck on replacing just the ball joint however... sorry i cant help

munscher · 08-28-2004, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X01VTEC

i think you may be confusing the ball joints with the pivot bushings for the control arm....

there are 2 pivot bushings per front upper arm... these have bolts extending out of them that go through the strut towers.... where you attach say a nuespeed strut tower bar... these can also be replace with camber kits...

the ball joints are at the other far end from the pivot bushings... the ball joints connect the upper arm to the knuckle... there are 1 of these per side per control arm

however honda does not sell either the ball joint or the pivot bushing seperately from the control arm...

you can replace the pivot bushings with camber kits... or if the bushing it self has gone to ****... (dry rot or whatever...) you can also replace the bushing and its shell with a polyurethane counterpart...

no luck on replacing just the ball joint however... sorry i cant help

Nope, im not confused. SPC part number: 67360

j_t_heilbrun · 08-28-2004, 09:04 PM

^^ the man speaks the truth.

However the ball joint is not sold separtley, without the upper control arm. Unless you get a camber kit (adjustable ball joint style, obviously)/

X01VTEC · 08-30-2004, 03:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by munscher

Nope, im not confused. SPC part number: 67360

i guess not... well my apologies.... hows that ball joint working for ya... looks to be a bit taller than the oem one... do you have any problems slamming your control arm into the inner fender?

robdog1 · 08-30-2004, 08:00 AM

every gear head at a shop i talked to said i need the upper arm to fix my problem

munscher · 08-30-2004, 11:18 AM

due to the fact that honda doesnt sell pieces of the upper control arm assembly separate, you will need to do one of two things as far as i can tell.

1) Buy a new upper control arm in its entirety
2) Buy a set of SPC adjustable ball joints

To answer the other question... yes the SPC joints are taller than stock, and yes i have had them make contact with the inner fender well. It only happens when you hit a sudden bump of significance, so its fairly rare. I have about a 1.5 finger gap all around with 205/55/15 tires to give you an idea of my drop.

X01VTEC · 08-30-2004, 01:18 PM

yeah it looked like it could hit the inner fender well.... i would have thought that to be a bad thing... i know suspensions are made for bumps and **** like that.. but id think that that particular ball joint (if you hit a bump hard enough, or hole deep enough) could recieve a serious blow and send that stress throught that entire particluar wheel's suspension.

im not looking at a fender well right now... but i imagine you could probably cut a part out of the inner well to make clearance for that ball joint to avoid any added stress on the suspension

X01VTEC · 08-30-2004, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robdog1

every gear head at a shop i talked to said i need the upper arm to fix my problem

i think weve agreed that:

(1) you will have to buy an entire upper arm from honda which comes with the ball joint you need as well as the other components you dont but might as well replace

(2) junk yard - if youre that pressed for cash... remember you'll be buying a used part... but you should be able to get pretty cheap... if you go this route... make sure the boot for that ball joint looks very good... no rips or you'll be needed another upper arm

(3) spc camber kits ( ball joint replacements ) i wouldnt go this route just for the fact my car is lowered a little bit and dont really like the idea of the ball joint hitting the inner fender well... i drive the car hard, especially around corners and on country roads... i also drive it every day and sometimes many hours a day... if you dont mind making clearance for the adjustable ball joints you may just wanna go this route... if people are happy with these it might be worth it, especially if youve lowered your car enough to need a camber kit... also another cool thing with these is that compared to the other camper kits ive seen (which replace the pivot bushings instead of the ball joints) youd be able to use energy suspension urethane pivot bushings... (sorry i just installed my ES bushing set, and it is definately my favorite mod so far on either lude i have)

munscher · 08-30-2004, 02:56 PM

Yeah, you can deform or cut the inner fender to make clearance... since i rarely ever hit the fender well i havent bothered yet. I also drive my car fairly hard and on a daily basis.

FullyLudedSi · 08-30-2004, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by X01VTEC

...also another cool thing with these is that compared to the other camper kits ive seen (which replace the pivot bushings instead of the ball joints) youd be able to use energy suspension urethane pivot bushings... (sorry i just installed my ES bushing set, and it is definately my favorite mod so far on either lude i have)

What is the biggest difference you noticed with your car after installing the ES bushing complete set? Did it improve you handling? does the ride feel smoother? anything else you noticed after installing the ES set? Im thinking about gettin a set myself when I have enough money saved and debt free.

X01VTEC · 09-01-2004, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FullyLudedSi

What is the biggest difference you noticed with your car after installing the ES bushing complete set? Did it improve you handling? does the ride feel smoother? anything else you noticed after installing the ES set? Im thinking about gettin a set myself when I have enough money saved and debt free.

my observations might be slightly impaired, when comparing to a new rubber bushing set, as i replaced bushings with over 250,000 miles on them with new urethane

that all aside:

smooth isnt really the term i really want to use... smooth just reminds me of what a cadillac is supposed to feel like....

however... now the car feels much more solid.... and not in a bad way like jarring the **** out of ya on every bump... steering is dramitically tighter... the car always handled well... every prelude ive driven has... but now you can feel feed back from the road and tires and car much better... which in itself can make you feel more confident about the car going around a said corner... the car is more predictable too...

i guess the best way to decribe the feeling is that slack in steering and cornering is now extinct... i can also feel less weight transfer between shifts and rapid adjustments of throttle...

i cant wait until i get some good springs and struts and urethane endlinks and nice swaybars... so i can actually get to tuning the suspension... the main reason i did the urethane was that the car just felt to drive like and older car and improving ride quality (not to be read smoothness, as i like feedback to whats going on with my car) is exactly what the urethane kit did, it just feels like what a prelude should feel like