Honda Integra DIY

‘m going to show you how to seperate, remove, and reinstall your lower ball joint on your integra.

Tools needed:

Jack and jack stands

10,12,14,17,19, and 32mm sockets

3/4, 1/2 ratchet

17, 19mm wrench

Impact driver

Needle nose pliers

rubber mallet

BFH (big *cough* hammer)

Pitman tool (Free rental at autozone: $25 deposit)

Ball joint press (Free rental at autozone: $105 deposit)

air ratchet (optional, but highly recommended)

Before we start I want to give some suggestions of things you should look at and replace while having everything off.

Check your brakes

Check your axle boots

Lets get started!

1. jack up your car (remember to loosen lugs before jacking)

2. Support your car with jack stands

3. remove lug nuts and wheel

4. brake removal (for detailed brake removal instructions please check link that was shown above)

5. remove caliper (12 or 14mm socket)

6. Remove brake pads

7. Remove brake bracket (17mm)

8. Remove axle nut. You don’t have to do this now, but I went ahead and did it with my air ratchet. If you don’t have an air ratchet then I recommend you do this before removing the brakes, and have some one press the brakes while you crank on it with a really big ratchet, and the 32mm socket.

Un-notch axle nut (safety notch)

Remove axle nut

9. Remove rotor screws, and remove rotor. USE IMPACT DRIVER!!! A normal screwdriver will not work for this. You have been WARNED.

Tap the back of the impact driver with a hammer, and it will loosen the screws.

10. Remove brake line bolts

11. remove 4 sensor bolts, and remove sensor and bracketing.

(near upper ball joint)

(Above axle, on back side of brake shield)

12. Brakes have been removed , now for the ball joints.

I recommend seperating the tie rod first, then lower ball joint, and last upper ball joint. After seperating them don’t remove them from the knuckle until the last ball joint has been seperated! This will make it much easier on you.

13. Remove cotter pin, and lossen castle nut with 17mm socket from the tie rod (located on the left hand side on passenger side, and right hand side on driver side)

14. Seperate tie rod from knuckle using pitman tool and ratchet. Took me seconds to seperate! Highly recommend you use the pitman tool, and no other methods.

15. Remove cotter pin, and castle nut from lower ball joint (no pics of castle nut, and pin sorry). Then seperate lower ball joint with the pitman tool. Lower ball joint takes a lil bit of effort getting the pitman tool lined up, but its easy after that.

16. Last ball joint, the upper ball joint! Remove pin and castle nut with 17mm WRENCH! A socket will not fit with a large enough ratchet, so use the wrench and a rubber mallet or hammer.

17. Seperate upper ball joint with pitman tool and 17mm WRENCH! Once again the socket and ratchet did not fit. The pitman tool might slip off a few times on the upper, but just go slow and it will pop off with ease.

18. Remove knuckle from upper/lower control arm, and tie rod. You have everything seperated! Take a break if you havn’t done so

This is also a good time to check your axle boots. Mine were torn very bad since my lower ball joint snapped while I was driving, and tore my boot really bad. Follow the article posted above if you have any cracks or gashes in your boot.

19. Check and remove safety ring. I used needle nose pliers to remove the boot, but I didn’t see any ring (my aftermarket ball joint came with a ring)

20. Hammer out ball joint. The reason I didn’t press it out is b/c the press would not fit to remove the ball joint. So get the biggest fucken hammer you have and slam the hell out of it. The ball joint flew when I hammered it out. WARNING: dangerous projectiles.

21. This is to show you the ball joint press that I rented. It is super big, and weighs a ton. I highly recommend you use this tool!

22. Put new ball joint in (no pics), and assemble your ball joint press the same as shown in pictures. I spent alot of time trying to figure out how this press would work with are tiny knuckles, and this was the only way. My press used a 19mm socket. I recommend using air tools for this, as my air tools even seemed to have a hard time at 140 psi.

23. Once everything is in order you will press the ball joint in. If the press starts slipping than lossen it and re-align everything and tighten it again until the ball joint is fully pressed.

24. Install safety ring that is given with the ball joint. I used needle nose pliers, and a flat head screwdriver.

25. TEARS OF JOY!!! YOU ARE DONE!

26. Reality is yes you have to reinstall everything haha. Things I recommend when re-installing. Please buy your self a new axle nut. Mine was in horrible shape, and you wouldn’t want to ruin your threads on your axle (new axle cost alot more $$$$)! Remember to renotch it after installing it.