I say yes, but it only has 2 legs on it like this:


Here's a good pic of the different tools available for ball joint separation:

 

I got a 3arm/2arm puller, it didn't fit with three arms, and it kinda sucked with only two, but it got the job done. Honda has a specific tool they recommend (looks like the upper right one in Josh's pic), but I assume they probably charge you out the ass for it at the stealership.

 

Well, the car is in the air guys - wish me luck, lol.

 

good luck

 

'bet it's done by now.

The 2-jaw puller is the one you want to use if you go this route. You can still damage the ball joint beyond re-use with these, too. They like to mushroom the head of the stud, so you have to leave the nut on the end of the lbj stud while breaking it loose. This keeps it from spreading out. It's such a long PITA to use these things, but they work.

I just put a 3' pry bar through the LCA under the frame of the car, get someone to pry down on it with all their might, and a few blows on the side of that knuckle with a BFH... it pops loose. Takes just seconds to do it.

You can also put a floor jack under the rotor, jack it up about 4-5 inches, hit it with the BFH in the same spot, and it will do basically the same thing.

I use the first method because I'm always working under a lift. The second one is easier if you're on jackstands.

 

Well guys -

It took 5 hours - 4 hours and 15 minutes of it was spent with a torch on the axle nut, because over the past 8 years, it had just rusted in place.... The 500ft/lb torque wrench didn't even budge it at first.

I used a little bit of P/F and a little bit of jacking up the rotor for the LBJ removal. It was actually a really simple job, and the great advice/pictures I got from all of you was indispensible.

Honestly, as of late, I've been doing a lot of work on fourth gen camaros/firdbirds, and "Some" late model mustang work, and it was a breath of fresh air too pop the hood, and have a wide open engine bay (liking that of 60's/70's muscle cars), and a simple/uncrowded suspension. I can really see now why there are so many enthusiasts for these cars, as in some ways, they reflect the DIY aspect of what made modifing cars at home fun in the first place.

....Now, can we petition Honda to make an affordable RWD, torquey V8 platform, because that might be enough to make me "Turn sides" on the domestic guys I have loved, and at times loathed, for so long... (Obviously, there was no disrespect meant by that - I just love torque.)

 

I don't want to start anything, but I still feel I need to say it anyways

there's more to a car than displacment, hp, and ft/lbs....

that, and fwd > rwd is most normal driving situations....

 

Don't want to start anything, then say that? You really want to start a pissing match with me? Okay then let's do it, point by point.

There's more to a car than displacement, hp, and ft/lbs. Really? (Sarcasim) - Maybe that's why I mentioned how much I enjoyed working on the civic? There are reliability concerns, handling, price, and creature comfort aspects ... who's to argue that? I simply said that I would like to see a company that designed the civic so well, do a serious STREET performance car. How is that bad, and how does that warrant your simple minded comment? The NSX is 90% wasted on the street.

Okay FWD vs. RWD

Name one situation in which FWD is better than RWD under PROPER weight conditions?

2 words: Weight Transfer!

I suppose companies like Lambo, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, McClaren Co. all design their $70,000 to $1.1 million dallor cars as RWD by accident? Better yet, the benchmark of Honda performance is what? REAR WHEEL DRIVE You may have heard of these cars, they are called NSX'es. Mind you, these are cars that aren't meant for drag racing, but HANDLING, and ARRRK! Are rear wheel drive? The hell you say, surely if FWD is superior, no company would invest this kind of money into an inherently inferior design!

Okay okay okay, fair enough, you said normal driving situations ... what's a normal driving situation? Define it. Let's talk emergency lane change. I mean, you will always get the idiot in front of you that wants to pump his breaks. You vehicle is traveling at 35 MPH, you must weave around an oncoming obstacle. You first, hit the gas in effort to quicken the responses. PROBLEM! Weight transfer! FWD - you remove weight form the front wheels, wheels that will be doing a dual purpose of turning and accelerating at the same time. You IMPAIR their ability to remain in traction of the road as you remove weight from them! Now you begin to turn, creating a separate lateral force against them, along the with sudden loss of downward pressure. The possibility of losing traction is increased in 3 ways.

Now, compare that to RWD, where you are transferring weight to the driving wheels, the suspension levels (in a torque arm suspension as used in 82-02 Fbodies in peticular) as you enter a point of initial lateral acceleration, IE the lane change, redistribution weight back onto the front of the vehicle. The IRS on most FWD vehicles will not allow this because they are "Self Leveling" designs, leveling from side to side, not front to back. They are designed to handle lateral forces particularly well, but not weight transfer.

Okay, now I know what you are saying - I just got done saying all these high buck companies are producing RWD platforms because they are superior, and in the next breath, I'm talking poorly about IRS'es that they all use. Hark, but the difference is that in all of these vehicles, the IRS has a dual function! It HAS GOT TOO BE DESIGNED TO HANDLE WEIGHT TRANSFER! It is meant to hold the DRIVING wheels in contact with the pavement, and they are designed totally diferent as a result! Now self leveling is not the only important issue, but so is pushing the wheels down when they want to "Hop." I assume you've heard of "Wheel Hop."

Fact is, I could go on and on and on - but the bottom line is that I loved working on this Civic, but don't come to me with the "Bullshit" that got "Ricers" their reputations in the first place and then hide behind "Not trying to start anything" statements.... There are some fast FWD cars out there - but for every 1 FWD car in the 9's, there's how many thousands of RWD cars are there? For every 1 FWD car pulling 1.00 G's are lateral acceleration, how many thousands of RWD cars are doing it? For every comfortable and reliable FWD car out there, how many thousands of RWD counterparts are there?

FWD is easy to assemble for the factory - period! The car companies that don't cut corners on labor cost to safe the consumer a few pennies on an end product don't design their cars to be FWD! Take GM for example - they like to just stamp out as many cars as they can, most have shitty interiors, and piss poor exterior design, but they are affordable and common, and almost all FWD! They are also cheap to assemble, and that's the idea. Low cost, High profit!

Back to topic - that's for the help guys - I really enjoyed working on this car, and can appreciate why so many people love them for fun toys, or reliable daily drivers!

 

rwd in rain = reason enough to drive fwd, but like I said, I don't want to start anything

I've driven rwd. I know what its all about. But not everyone who drives is concerned about being a speed demon. All those exotic company's you mentioned are just that, and are more geared for performance. Most people who buy cars get them for driving around, work, shopping, etc.

and I've never had problems doing manuvering with my civic. I think suspension balance, size/weight of the vehicle, and center of gravity have much more to do with weight transfer than rwd vs fwd does. The only real benifit I'd see with rwd is better accel.

you can't say a civic doesn't manuver better than an f-body, like you stated as an example. You're ludicus if you think thats true.

and fishtailing sucks unless you're drifting.

 

I like AWD myself. :yumyum: :love: :loco: :fawk: :grinpimp: :bowdown: :jawdrop: :goodjob: :rockon: :db: :irock: :werd: :shocked: :eek3: :af:

It lets me rape both FWD and RWD out of the hole. It takes full advantage of weight transfer on launches, while also maintaining incredible grip in turns. Honda has an AWD car if you count a station wagon, but Porsche and BMW have AWD cars in their line-ups, too. The Carerra 4s is pretty badass because it's mid-engined and AWD, but hell, I can't afford that.

I used to not be able to break traction with AWD, but now that my 2.0L is making about 400chp on a good day, I can bark all 4 of my drag radials for a split second on 6000rpm launches. 1.73 60'. How much power and tire does it take to break that with RWD?

You're both right... Displacement isn't everything, and it's a hell of a lot easier to build a straight-drive car that runs 9's or faster than it is to build any transverse mounted FWD. They're a lot easier to keep in a straight line on the track, too.